Summing thin slices

This poem by recent (2008-2010) poet laureate Kay Ryan at first made me think of calculus, of integration, summing all the thin slices to find the area under a curve.  And then the poem moved me on. 

     Train-Track Figure     by Kay Ryan

     Imagine a

     train-track figure

     made of sliver

     over sliver of

     between-car

     vision, each

     slice too brief

     to add detail;

     or deepen: that

     could be a hat

     if it's a person

     if it's a person

     if it's a person.

     Just the same

     scant information

     timed to supplant

     the same scant

     information.

Ryan's poem is found in the March 2007 issue of Poetry.  

On NPR today was a story about the NPR Poetry games, a poetry contest celebrating the 2012 Olympics in London; here is a link to the story and to the winning poem.