May 26, 2020

Earth Rocks

Where is away? I'd like to know so
I can calculate how far it is from here –
or how close, as the case may be. 

Is it within throwing distance? A stone's
throw, perhaps? If I scrape two stones
together, do they become rubbish?

Rubble? What happens to the atoms
at the point of contact – points, to be
more exact? Are they relieved to be

released from such close quarters with
their fellows, free of the burdens of
integration within a single object?

Or do they retain some atomic memory
of past breaks with larger wholes, or
of flowing as rivers of molten mineral

before that? How far did they have to
travel to cool and harden into a mass
that passes for solid on a human scale?
   
And if Earth later brings seismic
pressure to bear to crack this pottery,
what is to be done? Shall we throw it

away, so much detritus to discard?
No. Earth trashes only the idea away.
All else is here, incalculably close.