by JM McDermott

Väinämöinen
and the Singing Fish
by Marissa K. Lingen

Praxitales
by Nye Joell Hardy

Walking Across The Bomb
by Alexandra MacKenzie

The Green Infinity
by Camille Alexa

The Night The Stars
Sang Out My Name
by Ken Scholes

Odysseus on the War Train
by Rose Lemberg

Side Show Sally
by Tracie McBride

Hives
by Elizabeth Penrose

3 Poems Called Cosmic
by JM McDermott

Think
by Suzanne Sykora

Pavlov's Best Friend
by Kristine Ong Muslim

Short Form Set:
Shears,
by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
Two Haiku,
by Francis W. Alexander
LIONS & TIGERS & BEARS,
by Kendall Evans

]

1

i hate to be the one to break it to you like this
we destroyed the galaxy Thursday –– when it rained
         my daughter and i had built a solar system out of cardboard
         when the wind blew –– the solar systems turned on a string
         when it rained, whole planets melted
         and the walls of heaven collapsed
         into a puddle of potting soil
         in the bed of my pickup truck

         people do not believe our galaxy was alive
         but I tell those doubters that they are correct –– and totally wrong
         because
                   on a large enough time scale:
         the possible becomes probable,
         and then, the probable becomes ––
                                                 inevitable
         and in an infinite sea, all that is possible will emerge from the
         primordial ooze
         eventually.
                   bacterial empires rose
                   fell amid the fungal forests
                   jupiter, pluto, and mars
                   a dialogue of enzymes
                   prayed to heaven for life everlasting

         and until I can push my skull
         through the wet brown paper of
swallowing an infinite
alphabet

         until then I will not love
         my daughter's
                             crooked grin
                                       she's caught in her first lie
                             she told me she had brought the galaxy
                                       in from the truck's bed

                   and i sent her

         to her room

                                       to think

nasa talks about the vast open like an infinite space
         so did the settlers when we first touched the virgin midwest

but the big bang had a measurable energy, yes?
anyone?
         someday, when the universe falls apart,
                   and all the suns fade to black
                             do you think the increased gravity
                                       of so many black holes pulling hard
                                                 will curl back to a single holy source?

i don't. i think astronomy is a test of faith.
jesus will come down from the sky
         and four horsemen will ride upon a rainbow
         and heaven will flip the blessed inside out
         and we'll spend an eternity discussing philosophy
         in white robes. making music to pass the time.

         if i were a psychic, i would have to learn a new language
                   of the mind of just one person
         because the way we think and the objective correlatives
                   come from memories that don't
         translate

         i do not think i'd worry about the language of heaven.
                   the objective correlatives of cosmic:

                   here we are.