Once upon a time, before there was time

Let’s begin with the prompt today, and then we’ll get to my poem! I know that at least a few of you will be in the path of totality for the upcoming solar eclipse. My boys and I are also eclipse bound and crossing our fingers for clear skies! In honor of Monday’s big event, the prompt du jour is heavenly bodies! Sun, moon, stars, planets—it’s all fair game. If you aren’t going to be able to view the eclipse and find yourself bitter and annoyed that everyone’s talking about it, feel free to interpret the prompt in a totally different way and write your best sexy poem instead.

My poem, shared below, has a bit of both going on. It’s one of those poems where I can feel what I want to make happen—but it isn’t quite happening yet. Perhaps there will be a more congenial draft down the line! I value this community so much and appreciate that it’s a place where it feels comfortable, and dare I say fun, to fall short of perfection.

Here is my still-gestating poem. I look forward to reading yours—congenial or otherwise—in the comments thread!

Photo by Andy Sanchez on Unsplash

Once upon a time, before there was time,

you were born in the cooling
of torrid chaos—

the afterbirth of
the biggest bang.  

An intrepid electron
twirled about an eligible proton,

and bada boom—the stuff of stars! 
Atoms in heat bumped together

and elements of you
burst into being.

You are made of hot and heavy stars
getting hotter, getting heavier

until their iron hearts exploded
and atoms gushed like water and blood.

Every bit of you is stardust or the
bedlam of astral explosion.

Every atom of you has its own
stories to tell,

like one time, when I was William Shakespeare—
entire libraries live in your cells.

True, you’re also boxed and labeled,
lined neatly on the table of elements,

but every box of you 
is a traveler, 

its lid lost to the self-forgetful pleasure
of trying something new—over and over.

You have been a bird,
a tree,
a poet,
an ocean.

You will be them again.

This is my
happily ever after. 

P.S. I forgot to mention that it’s National Poetry Month! If you’re doing something special to celebrate—whether that’s reading more poetry, writing more poetry, or something else—I’d love to hear about it. Please share in the comments thread!