Crab Nebula

a tenuous spoon bent into black
whirlpool joy at a trillion volts
 
orange whispers out 
just touching the void
thankful for unencumbered elements
 
what's it like to spin thirty times a second?
do you get dizzy?
what would Lao Tzu have to say about you?
 
rings form, concentric
trying to hide the numbing density 
you've thought about slowing down
taking a look around the neighborhood
but that's best left to the wear and tear guys 
or the wishes of the slide rule
 
you lost some of your shine over the last
millennium
but heat and beat
they're all yours

acorn sermon

live with the acorn sermon
that sits for a long time in the stubble fields
that seems boring 
until it razors home
 
greet the duck as a distinguished guest
quacking tales from hither and yon
he knows both North and South
and his wife can tell East and West
 
words dangle on cool air come fall
they sprinkle the ground
racing again in spring
then everybody talks summer
and sun waits for blossoms to sweeten the life
 
history of my body

Right index finger:  Carbon created in a supernova in the Sculptor 
Supercluster 8 billion years ago, travelled to Earth via 
Sculptor Void
Left knee:  bone atoms from a Blue Giant in Leo Supercluster 6.8 billion years ago
White blood cells:  material from Fornax cluster, type 1a nova over 5.5 billion years previous
Hair: spun from a molecular cloud in the Andromeda galaxy, carried to Earth via a comet 3.7 billion years ago
Eye:  a rain of organic material from the small Magellanic cloud, 4.5 billion years travel time
All other parts from unidentified parts of the Universe.  Estimated travel time:  5-10 billion years

Aldo Leopold

at a pure stone table
I write in a way cognizant of bumps, ridges and purple flowers
Coolness in the wind seeks out its own kind of day dream
the peculiar symphony of trees holds a memory of seed, the last rainfall and buttercup sky
curved pathways lead who knows where?
Overhead a small plane plies cloud, but the labyrinth branches ground eyes and birds soar sound.

Mary E. Croy lives in Madison, Wisconsin where she works as an administrative assistant. She spent nine years teaching English Language Learners in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. During her free time, Mary likes reading poetry and hanging out with her cats, Buster and Gabby. Her work has appeared in Better than Starbucks, Woven Tale Press, and Valley Voices, among others.