By splitting the atom, we have ****** our matter
and robbed the sun of its Promethean fire.
God help us, we are gods, and in these latter
days we'll manufacture wombs for hire

and generate a species by design
in our own image, to satisfy the whole
world's market for a race that seems more fine,
-- but can we give commodities a soul?

And further yet: our ending is to make
a blind, all-seeing universal mind
which of its own volition will remake
us into creatures of a different kind.

We never could resist such fatal magic,
for what are human beings if not tragic?



----------------------------------------------------
C­opyr­igh­­t 2025 by Jon Corelis
joncorelis.com

Frog

In this real old pond
this frog just sits there then jumps
in. Hey, you listenin’?


Mantra

Reincarnation
starts to sound weird
after you’ve said it
a whole bunch of times.


Meditation

Shave and a hair cut
two


Directions

When you see a sign
that points to itself, then you’re
on the right track.


Flake

It snows. I shovel.
It snows. I shovel. It snows.
Weisenheimer, eh?


Um ...

All that is, is one
and it’s this one right here and
it’s mine. Take a hike.


Hint

If you think I’m not
serious that only means
the joke is on you.


Really

Let your mind be filled
with the oneness of all things,
here, now. Just kidding.

Aries

Same old taken for
granted Ari. Someday you’ll
show them all. They’ll see!


Taurus

Love beckons this week,
Tau, but when you get closer
it’s waving bye-bye.


Gemini

Time for a fresh start,
Gem. If you won’t change your mind,
at least change your socks.


Cancer

Remember, Can, that
the way up is the way down.
Life’s a pogo stick.


Leo

Some may be peeved by
your Leonine manner. Well,
it’s for their own good.


Virgo

If not for you, Virg,
nothing would ever get done,
but do they thank you?


Libra

Keep your balance, Lib,
particularly when you’re
walking a tight-rope.


Scorpio

Get ready! This week,
Scorp, a dreamboat sails into
your work place. Dream on.


Sagittarius

Message for you, Sag,
in Aries. And they all thought
you'd never find out!


Capricorn

You’re just a bundle
of lovable quirks, Cap. So
what’s with these weird looks?


Aquarius

Aquari, you’re on
a cosmic roll. Let it all
ride: you’ll be surprised!


Pisces

What is the sound of
one hand clapping, mystical
Pi? That's your reward.

In the church they worship spiders, on a billion screens
demented oracles influence delusions.
Men drunk on anger oil their blood machines,
women ingest the pennies of their dreams,
and children with guns
assassinate the future in the schoolyard.

At the Union Hall they’re slurping poison soup.
The flesh rots from their faces. “Who are you?”
they ask each other’s mirrors.
Men scream at machines in isolation,
women can’t catch their breath, and children with guns
take aim at the morning.

Though I’ve always known that the light of the past was something
recognized, it’s only now I see
that the light of the past is the light of dreams: the light
in which things happen forever, where every laugh
retains the dew of a universe caught at dawn,
where the pride of the wounded heart renews its song
in an endless bloom of instants, and where the loves
we knew then inexhaustibly still live.

If you were me, you’d be inhuman too.
A glance at what we share should make it plain
I’m only human, so I’m just like you.

I need the things I have: too bad for you.
My inconvenience justifies your pain.
If you were me, you'd be inhuman too.

The big boys offer me a chance of gain:
if I don’t take it, what else can I do?
I’m only human, so I’m just like you,

and if that means a mountain of the slain,
I’m only doing what they tell me to:
if you were me, you’d be inhuman too.

This cross of lies determines what is true,
and makes our being human inhumane.
I’m only human, so I’m just like you.

So don’t be so judgmental: of us two,
one has to be an orphan of the rain.
If you were me, you’d be inhuman too.
I’m only human, so I’m just like you.

You can shut the door on the past,
but it keeps on living behind that closed door,
as heavy with potential as the future.
You hear it stirring in that other room
as you go about your business in your own,
until one day you realize that its restless motion is yours,
and that the room where you are is where the past is now.