Not only in the center but the seams

Not only in the center but the seams

by Gideon Burton

Not only in the center but the seams

where hydrogen will tear the cold, the black

of quiet space like cellophane that cracks

or curls to cinders in the sudden steam

of fission, or the sharp and mute attack

of first creation: brooding doves and streams

of errant magma wide as devils' dreams

where elements dissemble, vapors stack

and twist to igneous confusions, grey

with sudden sinking, sullen age, or dumb

allowance for the hovering pregnant dove.

Not only in the vagaries we pray:

the pressing wish to bleed and to succumb,

to wash with ashes snowing from above.

Feel free to copy, imitate, remix, or redistribute this poem as long as you give proper acknowledgment of authorship. Photo: flickr - orvaratli