173: This week I wrote 187,000 poems/each one is a mile long and...

This week I wrote 187,000 poems

each one is a mile long and

I’m going to read all of them to you in

the space of a single second

hear the red shift of the words

as they take light and break it over

their collective knee

and in his grave Einstein turns and

scratches his head and whispers

daring me to answer questions like

            What is the opposite of gravity?

            Is space curved?

            Are we light hiding inside of matter?

Each question

            a lightning strike

like a laser beam to my heart

            melting, cutting,

            exploding through me

trying to find ground

opening me up and

everything inside of me goes

             ignite! ignite!

the secret of burning is not the heat

but the wind, the oxygen

fanning the flames with each breath

             with this lightning strike combusting

a single flame inside is enough

to spark the dance of light and

explode a sun inside me

this fusion is the fastest thing we can see

and it pours out of

six billion tongues

all speaking the same effusive poem at once

collectively crying out,

screaming:

Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!

and the light of it is so blinding

there is no way to look away

This chaotic song of hope

rings dissonant through the galaxy

going so much slower than

this changing voice

and somewhere a sound of us

pushes away at 186,000 miles per second

and will be still sailing amid solar winds

of some far away and ancient constellation

when our sun stops

its inspiration and this world lies

     quiet.

©2010 by Jonathan Neske

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