Matter
Saint Paul, 14 November 2005
For scientists
Matter was one then blew up
Cracked panes, faulty catch-locks
The crumbled glazing
Of abandoned tintypes
These one-story buildings
Faced dirt graded streets
With silvery boardwalks
Expanding like the universe
One-by-one, I lift each floorboard
Where heavens were woven as one
I discover the neck of a bottle
That once emptied forth clues
I find the village church vacant
Its shattered clerestory whistling
I'm left to explain the natural world
Temptation in short supply
A wind-bent antenna as a tuning fork
My covenant is two-fold as follows
Draw from nature, but when you get stuck
Don't call in a mulligan from god