The average color of the universe
is not blue, as they thought, but beige—
or so they say after studying
two hundred thousand galaxies—
a fact that makes me stand longer today
beside this tulip as it shamelessly splays
its statistically unlikely yellow and red,
a living manual for possibility—
in all of deep space,
the chance to show up in this garden.
Posts Tagged ‘universe’
Another Reason to Marvel
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged color, flower, praise, tulip, universe, wonder on May 6, 2023| 6 Comments »
Unfolding
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged flower, growth, infinity, support, unfolding, universe on August 18, 2022| 7 Comments »
In a vision, I saw the self
as white flower—
a many-petalled ranunculus—
a flower that opened and opened
and infinitely opened, reaching
beyond borders, beyond atmosphere,
beyond our beautiful spiral of galaxy,
its petals unfolding and unfolding,
a timeless, unending unfolding.
It comforts me to know
there’s no edge to the universe,
no way to fall off, no way
to accidentally go beyond.
There was a moment when
the green stem snapped and I worried
the blossom had become too big.
Then I felt it, how completely
the great bloom was held by the world,
and in that moment, I trusted that holding.
The flower kept growing.
Now, back in my body,
I’m still opening into that trust.
Dizzying
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged comet, dust, meteor, small, universe on August 11, 2022| 6 Comments »
After midnight I stand
on the leading side of the earth
and watch as comet debris
speeds through the atmosphere.
Oh, the universe is big, and tonight,
I’m in love with being small,
my tiny heart flung wide to the mystery.
I think of the meteors flaring across the sky,
how they’re made from dust
the size of a grain of sand.
It takes so little to make something radiant,
something worth pointing at,
something worth waking for,
something vivid and bright,
something fleeting and beautiful as life.
Letter from The Universe
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged einstein, interdependence, poem, poetry, question, Rumi, universe, why on April 2, 2019| 6 Comments »
The spam email was simple. Subject: Why?
Body: Answer me. And I thought of Einstein,
who wrote a brief letter to Miss Marion Block,
a woman who had written first to him,
overcome as she was by two world wars.
He wrote: The question “Why” in the human sphere
is easy to answer: to create satisfaction
for ourselves and for other people.
Almost 800 years earlier,
Rumi answered the same question, saying,
Oh soul, you worry too much.
I, too, like Miss Block, like the spammer,
like the soul, I, too, have stood beneath the stars
and asked Why, Why?
And this week, I received in the mail
a typed letter signed from The Universe,
saying, You know this, but may have forgotten:
you have been given a special task
to complete on Earth … the world needs you.
And the words from The Universe
leap from the page to form new constellations
inside me and I see so clearly
that I am one of many, many stars,
no longer capable of thinking I’m in this for myself,
certain that we shine for each other.
One Red Handed
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged generosity, poem, poetry, universe on June 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »
And Then You Ask the Next Question
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged inquiry, poem, poetry, question, universe on September 18, 2014| 4 Comments »
Sometimes, if you ask
the right question,
and there are infinite
right questions to ask,
then the world cracks,
not in a way that makes
it more broken, but
cracks in a way
that makes it more whole,
as if you’ve been living
in a glass tank without
knowing the glass
were there. But oh!
after the shattering,
when someone asks you,
“Does the universe
act on us or do we act on
the universe,” you feel
in your breath and your
pulse that you and the universe
are the very same thing,
you feel it with absolute
certainty even as your
mind races
to find the place
where the glass
used to be.
While Walking in From the Car
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged miracle, opening, poem, poetry, uncertainty, universe on August 25, 2014| 2 Comments »
Not even a gust
tonight
and for no
apparent reason
the heart
blows open
and just
like that
innumerable stars
rush in
not to mention
all the space
between them
of course it’s
miraculous,
and on the other,
well, after marveling
there’s nothing to do
but invite the universe
in for a cup
of decaf chai
then tuck us
all in
for a good night’s
rest
who knows
what could happen
tomorrow.
Epiphany While Driving in the Storm with Danny
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Danny Rosen, indifference, poem, poetry, reframe, universe on February 9, 2013| 2 Comments »
Out the window
I do not see
the mountains
I know are there
behind the fog.
Do you think
the universe
is indifferent?
he asks.
New snow
obscures
all the lines
on the road.
The radio
is silent.
Yes, I say.
Rosemerry,
he says,
are you
indifferent?
Ouray Hot Spring Tanka
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged floating, swimming, tanka, universe on November 8, 2011| 1 Comment »
floating face up
in the black water
aswirl in the milky way—
with so small a breath
the body rises