on standard candles

A "standard candle" is the twin supernova that marks the death of a certain type of double star system. Its uniform brightness allows astronomers to measure time and distance.


What is the standard candle of a life?
a predatory action so banal
it measures us, as drum thuds under fife
so we must speak with it to speak at all
A parent passed - a lover out of touch
one last fight cut between us, jagged, sears
fortunate I have only hurt so much;
there's so much heartache I have yet to fear
A child who dies, whose parent must yet live
a city razed, never to be rebuilt
a trust betrayed, that no one can forgive
hearts too far gone to even measure guilt -
I cannot ink the map of her or him
on whom my sorrow sheds a light so dim

sola orbit

Inspired in part by the unlikely but wonderfully fruitful friendship between Edmond Halley and Sir Isaac Newton.


The only substance in the world is fire
and flecks of ash, slow-drifting down the draft
the exhalation of a god Who laughed
a burning art that sparked its heart's desire
a warmth that gathers all things in its grasp,
for which the shape of space itself makes room
it breathes in; every atom it consumes
cracks open with a last excited gasp
so every man and woman is a star
aflame within with outward loves and pains
in hidden realms too precious to defend
from friends who ask - oh, gently! - where you are
only your path across the dark explains
what bright Sun's at your destination's end

together

All things are held together in the dark
with desperation and a twist of wire.
Why fix it till it's actually on fire,
or breaks in ways that leave no outward mark?
A thirsty dog drinks water, splashing loud;
devices cry for power till they die;
a tree's roots shrug through concrete streets, and I
hunt for familiar faces in the crowd.
All souls are bound together - but by what?
The whispered shout, I AM, within the skull?
Some secret note, impossible to know,
hummed in blind bone - warm, twisting through the gut?
My heart still hungers, though my belly's full,
for that ghost smile, before you say "hello."

to you

Look here:
there's iron in your veins,
trains in your blood,
the hearts of burnt-out stars
that thundered in the dark ten billion years,

here, still -
your heart that beats, unbeaten, still.

This treasure cost your mothers, fathers, tons -
their innocence;
your innocence,
their will.

Until
we turn our faces each from each,
each child of dust holds heaven in its hands
and stands

a life spat in the cold night's empty eye
one spark struck, deep in crushing dust
ignites a sun

and one lit flame makes death itself untrue
and every movement pierces stillness through
the cosmos melts down, and is forged anew

in you

when God drew breath (tsimtsum pantoum)

Before He spoke the word that gave world form
The God of gods drew in a deep, slow breath
Close to His heart, held fast and vastly warm,
A fresh-torn wound's infinite tenderness

The God of gods drew in a deep, slow breath
And spoke. Inferno bloomed where there was night
A fresh-torn wound's infinite tenderness
Aflame with what was, suddenly, called Light

And spoke inferno, bloomed where there was night
A Love supreme must damn as well as bless
Aflame with what was suddenly called: Light
Some souls fled, their own holy Names unguessed

A Love supreme must damn as well as bless
Love won't forget. To that abyss of loss
Some souls fled their own holy Names, unguessed,
By any, save the One who bore the cross

Love won't forget. To that abyss of loss,
He carried fire legitimately His.
By any, save the One who bore the cross
A whispered, "let it be" does not mean, IS

His whispered "let it be" is all there is;
Close to His heart, held fast and vastly warm,
He carried fire, legitimately His
Before He spoke the word that gave world form.

beastly

Tell pleasing lies, two decades out of date.
He lied about you: I should pat your hand
And sadly say I understood too late.

Long gone fears growl, howl, batter at the gate,
Summoned, undead, like bones from barren land;
Tell pleasing lies, two decades out of date.

No feelings now - let faith and judgment wait
For documents and witnesses. Demand,
O heart, a beast this meat will never sate.

Cut, gut me, heap me on your empty plate.
Win in the end, as you had always planned.
Tell pleasing lies, two decades out of date.

No wild hope, no, nor noble-minded trait
Sinks tales like yours neck-deep in desert sand.
O heart! A beast this meat will never sate.

And you, my mother, could have been so great.
Here's cursed forgiveness you won't understand.
Tell pleasing lies two decades out of date,
O heart - a beast this meat will never sate.