human element

Tonight, I pray. 
I am not a praying person.
I believe in plate tectonics;
that evolutionary advantage and
adaptation are real; the distance 
between stars and that some move
towards and others, away,
from us. I believe we are our 
brother’s keeper, that some 
failure can be measured like the 
taste of cheap wine, and that 
other human gaps are too vast,
like those giant star structures,
filaments connecting galaxies in 
coherent space, maybe- so like
axons, dendrites, neurons.

Imposed organization.
The human element, that most
unmeasurable of all. The most 
powerfully frail substance known
to man is not uranium, it is the ego. 
The sight of an atom splitting
is beautiful for the first four 
seconds, until the sound hits. 
Like the child you do not see
on the boat until his picture 
washes up on the shores 
of your local news station. This-
this is why I pray.

Reviews

[Archia]

This is really interesting, there's a great depth in the words. I thought it was very powerful how you described all these scientific events and then at the end brought it to something human, a child on a boat. It put a lot of impact behind it. It was a great poem.

[Marie Anzalone]

Thanks, Archia, for a beautiful and thoughtful review. In much of my work, I try to do just what you noticed- combine technical and human elements, searching for those elusive bridges between worlds. Science and art. First and third world. Soul and research. Art and dignity. I appreciate that you took the time to understand this one.

[thetish]

Such precious words. Egos seem to rule too much at this moment.

[Marie Anzalone]

thanks for the review comment