Grandeur

People often look up at the stars at night and marvel
at the might of the universe. How vast, how bright, how brilliant, how exalted, how beautiful.
The grandeur of it keeps us eye-locked on the sky at night for a blinking hint at
any messages the universe may be sending.

People often look up at the night sky without realizing that the stars are just
a reflection spied within their own eyes.
The blinking matches the beating of your heart; don't you hear it?
There are constellations in your palms; you just have lines already traced over them.

Think about this:
You are breathing the same oxygen atoms that Jesus, Siddhartha, Mohammed, Moses, and Abraham inhaled.
When atoms interact, they can become entangled, so you have divinity
within your blood at every moment. Moreover, your
fingertips are made of molecules, atoms of carbon, keratin, and creation because
those same atoms were used to compose the bodies of stars until they collapsed.
Stars died so that you could live. You
hold the makings of light at your fingertips, so
make sure that the stars didn't die in vain.

Grab a pen and let the constellations in your palms pour onto your pages.
Tell the story you've inherited from your parents that they
inherited from theirs down the line through the eons, past time and
back through space to before the Big Bang when God spoke and made
that first burning source of light - the words, like the atoms in your body,
have existed since then - waiting for you to
take up your light, to tell your story, to be bright,
brilliant, exalted,
beautiful.



I'm going to break one of the rules of poetry here and provide a bit of context to this poem.  Namely, it was based off the word "Grandeur".  In a poetry club here in town, we have a "homework assignment" to complete for each week.  While there are no points taken away or anything like that, it is simply an opportunity to explore an idea, a word, a concept, or ourselves.  For example, the coming week's assignment is to "Write your story."  Granted, we all have many stories, but the main question here is how do you see yourself?  What image can you pull from your life to explain how you're living now.  Stories are important to us.  You'll notice that the above, however, is not a story.

Well, with this blog, I one day want to be able to give back and not just keep taking your attention and time for my own words.  I would love for people to be able to share their stories.  If not here, then somewhere.  If this experiment ever takes off, I want to give back in the form of donations, workshops, mentorship, and/or editing/revising/writing help for anyone who wants as much.

So, I implore you to write your story.  Who are you?  What do you want to say about yourself?  If you don't want to share here, please share somewhere so that someone gets the insight of whoever you are.

So please go, write your story, and be bright, brilliant, exalted, and beautiful.