Skaterbugs & Far-Flung Galaxies

A Poem for Pondering the Universe

Skaterbugs & Far-Flung Galaxies

At the murky edge of a pond I often see 
what I expect to see—turtles basking on

logs, bullfrogs, and ducks wading in lily
pads. Sunlight slants, and I start to see 

past first impressions. As insects skip-skip 
over the surface constellations take shape

in no particular pattern. Water is a mirror, 
reflecting glimmers of macrocosm worlds.

Mud is strangely new as it lathers my limbs
inspiring a suit-of-armor for full immersion. 

I am an alien explorer breathing terrestrial 
air for the first time. I witness. I transform.  

A pond is a poem
A pond is a portal for the soul
A pond is a place to ponder
A pond is a universe glinting as the stars
A portal, a portal…

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Pondering the Wonders of the Universe

The first week of June I ventured to summer camp with my son as a parent chaperone. I took a swim test in frigid water. I went horseback riding and paddle boarding. I had free mornings to sit by a pond and observe my surroundings. It’s fun hanging out with snapping turtles.

May this passage spark your creative adventures this Summer!

How wonderful that the universe is beautiful in so many places and in so many ways. But also the universe is brisk and businesslike, and no doubt does not give its delicate landscapes or its thunderous displays of power, and perhaps perception, too, for our sakes or our improvement. Nevertheless, its intonations are our best tonics, if we would take them. For the universe is full of radiant suggestion.

For whatever reason, the heart cannot separate the world’s appearance and actions from morality and valor, and the power of every idea is intensified, if not actually created by its expression in substance. Over and over in the butterfly we see the idea of transcendence. In the forest we see not the inert but the aspiring. In water that departs forever and forever returns, we experience eternity.

~Mary Oliver, Upstream

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