Two eyes in the night
One winking
Over stone
Subtle miracles each
The way of physics
Matter
Quanta, atoms and molecules
Gravity
Gravitas
Billions of years
The stone
Another, subtler, miracle
The way of atmosphere
Geology
The elements
Erosion
A gentle whittling away
Over millennia
Millions of years
Of crystalline rock
And here stand I
A miracle of my own
No greater or lesser
For matter becoming
Life
And life becoming
Conscious
Billions of years
On this planet
I have become
A way for all miracles
To know themselves
Planets and Marbles
Devils Marbles
Northern Territory, Australia
NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025
Day 13 … Planets and rocks and life: miracles.
Devils Marbles is a geological formation near Australia’s Red Center. It would be in the middle of nowhere but for a highway of bitumen running right by it. There’s nothing else on the highway for dozens or hundreds of kilometers in either direction, north or south. But at Devils Marbles a remarkable turn of geological events called spheroidal weathering.
Every now and again the forces of nature that make rock form it in big crystals. Really big. Like, size of a car big. Over time — millions of years of time — rain and wind and other stuff gets in the cracks between crystals, wearing down the edges and corners of the big rectangular blocks first. Winnowing away a little at the time until the big blocks start to look more like, well, in this case, a rugby ball.
Kinda cool. And especially cool on one of those dark but clear desert nights when a couple planets hang out in the sky above the rugby ball.
What is NaPoWriMo? National Poetry Writing Month. AKA GloPoWriMo for Global Poetry Writing Month because, you know, it’s a worldwide event. During the month of April, poets challenge themselves to write at least one poem a day, every day, for the entire month. So, 30 poems in 30 days.
If you’d like to join in, or just want to learn more about this annual poetry writing event, the more-or-less official website is NaPoWriMo.net.
I am also one of the admins for a small, private FB group, NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025 if you want to follow other poets on their journey. Just click “Join”.
Pix to Words 