Thursday, December 30, 2010

Genesis

Here I sit on tapestried sofa
cozy-warm beside wood-burning stove
meditating in magical glow
of brightly lit, votive Christmas tree

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

a cosmic speck collided with others
in great, beckoning silence
warmed by a distant sun
in benevolent galactic corner

here I am, here I am
from where, from where


infused liquid in oceanic flask
rich with organizing, chemical bits
steeping for a billion years
'til sparked
into the living riddle

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

molecular to microscopic being
metabolizing eager elements
to duplicate an exact other
spawning boundless speciation

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

watery expanse flooded with color
blooming with fantastical forms
crafted by available time
in the hands of insatiable change

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

emboldened fins to wings and feet
seizing arctic to tropic niches
roaming grassy, savannah plains
in quest of exits for northern lands

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

hunting, farming, assembling empires
the old deposed to exploit the new
crossing insistent seas to fertile futures
to reap even more of nature's secrets

here I am, here I am
from where, from where

building cities, skyscrapers, spaceships
upon shifting technological sands
in quest of the moon, next to Mars
beyond and beyond and beyond

here I am, here I am
to where, to where

here I sit mythologizing
cozy-warm beside wood-burning stove
in brightly lit glow of votive Christmas tree
with my insignificant, wondrous existence.

Yellow Blanket

The past's invisible hands
on display in swaddling pose

intricate, woolen piece of art
crocheted with affectionate ken

hand-crafted ahead of its time
surely with future love in mind

dependent on familial aid
for hereditary delivery

now tangible, tactile bridge
to unknown great grand-child.

Convenient Friends

Scattered all through
memorialized woods

chiseled well
with comfortable niches

they lie in wait
inviting meditation

left behind
as Pleistocene relics

encrypted monuments
to terrestrial history.

Naming Rights

Undemocratic
covetous urges
overweening vanity

names attached
to interior walls
chairs, desks, tables

to museum spaces
college buildings
athletic stadia

to hospital corridors
courtyard plaques
playground benches

donor fantasies all
to own eternity
in perpetuity.