Good Kindling ~ Poems by Virginia Lee Sprague

The Center of Space
or Narcissism Excused By Cosmology

My bipolar friend Bubba joyfully explains to me,

that she really is the center of the Universe.

She sits in a messy room, beautiful and small,

wearing a pair of long johns on her head.

She wraps the long john's legs around her like a scarf

creating a plain jester’s hat but it seriously keeps her warm,

as the brutal Chicago winter,

seeps in through the brick and steel.

She then reveals the truth about the Universe,

It goes like this, because the Universe is infinite,

then any point on it is the center.

Therefore, she is indeed the center of the Universe.

Better yet, everything literally is all about her.

My mind begins to expand as I realize,

that according to Bubba’s explanation,

we are all at the center of the Universe,

and will spend our lifetimes connecting the dots.

The Smell of Space

On NPR an astronaut comments about the smell that lingers

On the space suits of those returning from a space walk.

He says, “It’s like nothing I’ve ever smelled before. “ Well, duh…

and I wonder, does it smell like really fresh air,

perhaps the morning breath yawn

of the western hemisphere or California burning.

I later google the smell of space, a disappointment,

To find that it is close to some things less romantic,

Gun powder and electricity.

(This is no surprise since gun powder needs air to combust)

and violence is so universe-al.

and, according to theoretical physics,

everyone and everything is fully charged.

The Sound of Space

If sound waves go on forever and are never lost,

Is there place where children and dolphins giggling,

Buildings falling, passion’s moans and tortured screams,

Become a blended hum and all things become

equal in infinity.

_______________________________________

All three poems written October 2009

Click on Images to go to the related web sites.

A note about the images:

The Susan Seddon Boulet image was scanned from a greeting card. She died in 1997.

The galaxy image was taken by the Hubble Telescope in 2001.