Prelude: The Chipmunk Connection - Moravian College

orbispictus
translation
Alexis Vergalla ’06
Some people say dand-e-lion, others
dan-da-lion. It’s a subtle difference,
like the way two people
will angle their bodies towards
each other or not. The conversation
the same—it was a busy day at work.
I am hungry. The weather is clearing,
they say it will be warm soon.—I notice
hands and forearms. Other people
like knees. And sometimes
I speak entirely with my fingertips.
I am uncomfortable. Tap. Tap. please.
A flat open gesture. My tongue says
the warmth will be nice, and I can
never remember the difference
between cumulous and nimbus either.
listen. I don’t care. just come closer.
Artwork and poem by Alexis Vergalla ’06. Vergalla received
her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of California,
Riverside, in 2008. Her first chapbook, Letters Through Glass
(Finishing Line Press) was published in 2009; her new
chapbook, Experiments in Light and Ether (Dancing Girl Press)
will be published this summer. Vergalla’s work has appeared
in Diode, elimae, and other journals. She lives in Seattle and is on the staff of Poetry
Northwest; visit her blog at www.alexisv.wordpress.com.
Orbis Pictus (The World Illustrated), written by Moravian bishop and educator John Amos Comenius and published in 1658, was the first
illustrated book specifically for children. (This Orbis Pictus image, from“The Master and the Boy,” is courtesy of Reeves Library.) On this
page we celebrate the ways that members of the Moravian College community illuminate our world.
24 MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2010