first three minutes of the universe

there was an explosion. simultaneously. everywhere. not at zero second.
but close. the first hundredth of a second. hotter than the hottest
star. blue hot. a hundred thousand million degrees centigrade. a nursery
of brooding hot. hot to trot. the Norse myth says 'Earth was not found,
nor heaven above but in a yawning gap there was grass but
nowhere.' there were no Vikings, no dots on shirts, no lamp shades or
vanilla ice cream or batteries to throw away. but there was Lego. Lego
for life.

in the first three minutes of the universe everything that would be
anything started to ferment. clump together. got ready to sing at a
recital. began to develop lips to form the word POEM. it all moved
towards that Christmas card that got people we don't know back
together. in that moment, one star dreamed of turning away another
just because it needed time to shape clay. the universe became a rogue
gallery of jigsaws fighting for space & in softer moments, mango juice
squeezed from the heavens. sparkled like sharpsuits.

there was the first spoonful of the cartwheel galaxy. NGC 1365 with its
gem-like barred spiral worlds, Jupiter’s 16 moons & Saturn's Hyperion.
pulsars were born cramping the style of the black hole & stealing
limelight off the middle age. chambers of birth. in the first three
minutes of the universe molecules began collecting so that pokeweed
could be part of this musing. in the first three minutes
atoms rose dancing & just as Rumi said

‘(they were) dancing like madmen
happy or miserable
& they just on kept dancing.’

poem from the future

a tangent is still a line that just kisses the curve.

like Euler said in 1775
∏ is definitely transcendental.

the Chandrasekhar limit for a star collapsing on itself
is correct, we’ve tried.

absolute zero is absolute. just colder than you would
have thought.

the wormhole is a paradox caused by zero in the Theory
of General Relativity but no-one wants to go first.

we saw old recordings of Star Trek:
phrases like nanovirus leftover, residual harmonics,
triaxilation construct, telepathic conduit-
show unusual wit.

(& by the way, Star Trek got the whole holodeck thing completely
wrong but who knew they'd be so spot on with the costumes?)

we invented a new letter of the alphabet because we couldn't
capture that exact word for triumph.

we moved the constellation of Leo. apologies to those born July
24 - August 23 you now have Virgo traits.

although Job said in the Bible, ‘I am brother to dragons and
companion to owls.’ we still don't take that phrase literally.

we are no further in knowing if the universe is its own mother.

we don’t know what came before the Planck era.
(we have few snapshots left).

we do know how much longer the planet will survive.
(we have few snapshots left).

the poet exists as a learned astronomer.
we have words to prove this.

About the Poet
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