Supernova: poems by John C. Mannone

Milky Way, image by Evgeni Tcherkasski, on Pixabay

Ontology

I look to the heavens

plead questions

The stars remain silent

I look to the sky

coax clouds for answers

They only speak language of rain

I look to the firmament

plow its soil for words

There is no treasure of wisdom

I look to the ocean

sink to its depths

Only fathom its silence

I look within

find You tucked in the folds

of my heart

Answers on your lips

_____________________

Supernova

From the beginning, His grace

spread a myriad of galaxies

across the heavens as a curtain,

hung an embroidery of stars

in cunning spiral seams, spinning

them to hem the heavens,

and on earth, each and every one of us

lay claim to our own birthday star

to wish upon before the candles blow

out all our waxing dreams,

promised dreams as countless as the stars

around the Promised Star so full of Light.

He stretched His arms across the sky,

embraced them all, then cried

a billion tears whose weight

had bulged and tore the fabric

of the temple veil, rifting space

and time. That Sun spilled its

blood—red torrents of forgiveness—

as His heart went supernova that day,

His star becoming the silver dust

that glitters all the hope of night today.

_______________

John C. Mannone has poems appearing in North Dakota Quarterly, Poetry South, and hundreds of others, including Christian venues such as Windhover, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, Credo Espoir, Scriblerus Arts Journal. He was awarded a Jean Ritchie Fellowship (2017) in Appalachian literature and served as the celebrity judge for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (2018). He edits poetry for Abyss & Apex and other journals. A retired physics professor, John lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.

August 2021 issue