"To explain grace requires / a curious hand."

This morning in class I (Chris) read Marianne Moore's simultaneously expansive and compact poem "The Pangolin." [Scroll down.] Among its many remarkable passages is this following one (click  image for a more readable view):

Dan mentioned, after it was read, how many parts of the poem could be unpacked, its references explored. By way of example, he put this collage on the screen (which he put together while I was reading the poem!), featuring a sketch by da Vinci for an armored vehicle, an early version of a tank, alongside a pangolin: