Unidentified anomalous phenomenon

a new name for

the silence that precedes
a spearpoint of light

and the silence that follows it
as it arcs
or floats
or zig-zags
across the sky

a star that is not a star
that skips across the ocean

the hum at the back of your mind
rises to a shout of surprise
breathing air
into dreams of flying
lending form to
that ever-fluctuating mix of emotions
thoughts and fantasies that make up
the man-woman
non-binary entity you are at heart—
a being clothed in black dust
and haloed by photons
an emissary of the cosmos
sent here
to make faces shine

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Enjoyed the poem David, I found the closing six lines particularly captivating, in the weave of poetry/science/vision/precision. I feel you got the balance of those elements in the close.

Would the title compete in an index of poems? Not sure such a heavily analytical language would hook me. Perhaps I lack the sci-fi or science tastes for the label. It did help me access the poem, particularly anomalous. Anyway the poem does give identity, sort of rescues itself from the title.

Non-binary carries a lot of baggage from outside the poem, but in the context of delivering that closure does justify and land its assertion.

A star that is not a star
that skips across the ocean

Triggered the image. Lovely.

Phil

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How beautiful this is, David! I can’t help but see this as the title of the poem…followed maybe, by, unidentified anomalous phenomenon.

it’s just pure imagination, from first line to last.
So very fine!

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