​POETRY  

a big, bright bang burst forth     -   
                                   ​Photo by Weebly.com                                    

How the Puffer Fish Came to Be
by Mark Thoma

​Once upon a time, before
there was time, a big, bright
bang burst forth sending
light beams, rolling fire, waves of
heat, and all manner of life seeds
in every direction, before there was direction, or
you could say, this virginal boom created
directions—horizontal, up, vertical, down, across,
north, diagonal, east, south, and west—outward
outward life masquerading as
destruction.
 
One of these life seeds fell into a spinning
vortex of violet, crimson, chartreuse, gold, that is,
uncountable colors swirling down down down and
sucking the life seed into its center. So fast did the seed
spin that it turned into a drop of water, who in its sensitive
gratitude chose to reflect all colors in equal measure, equal
brilliance.
 
The crystalline drop fell onto a
tilted, bruised, and befuddled rock who,
when it felt the refreshing drop, sighed with
relief, which expanded its circumference outward outward
until the drop filled three quarters of now, what we would call
a planet.
 
By now I think you know what happened from here
and how the Puffer Fish came
to be.

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​Mark Thoma has practiced medical social work for thirty years and is semi-retired. He recently took his first OLLI class. Mark likes to cook, make bread from the The Tassajara Bread Book, hike, read, write poetry, and help maintain a neighborhood garden. Mark's first encouragement for writing came from his fourth grade Creative Writing teacher (yes! a teacher just for creative writing!) when he was ten years old. He has been writing poetry on and off since. Mark lives with his husband in San Francisco.

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