The universe ends where that thought originated
Newton never noted
that matter and energy
behave both as
waves and particles
because it only happens
when you’re not looking.
It’s kind of like the moment
when the dust that rings around planets
begins to coalesce into moons
or when blood cells pile on top of each other
forming scabs over wet wounds
or when a bobbing wave
breaks and curls into the sand of the shoreline.
The math that makes
trees branch and rivers snake
shapes the contours of your face
and sweeping eyelashes
that rise and break
crashing onto
the apples of your cheeks.
This is a spiral galaxy
and neural network
and Eisenhower’s interstate with
its Howard Johnson’s motor lodges
and MAGA hats sloped, third eyes muffled,
hearts tunneled out to make room for cash flow.
Newton could not decipher light,
but neither could the trilobites
that swam nakedly
through Earth’s ancient seas or
the saber-toothed cats that roamed across our
fertile, glacial-pressed, and
now train track-covered terrain.