Exploded Stars

            haunted by

wholeness—

            bright debris sibilant

beneath skin tug-of-warring

            with gravity, we

harvest shine

            from the caves of

mouths & crevices

            of eyes incandescent

as we remember

            the most massive

flares among us,

            detonate inside

each other to hold

            tiny supernovae

in our arms. Crushed

            bodies craving fusion

keep us brimming

            with enough energy

to pass on,

            keep us lit & lying

to ourselves about

            the eventual & sudden

ways we black hole—

            it already happened, it’s happening

anyway, to happen soon,

           scattering all that we think

matters so much now

            for another radiant giant to gather

then fling across galaxies

            again—reconstituted

& scorched clean,

           new turmoil begging

from the inside out

           to burn.

“Exploded Stars” is from Starshine & Clay (Four Way Books, 2017)