Human Smudges
by Derek Reid
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Sweet Nova we begin at you and I forming
children of the universe swimming protolovers
gorging on precreation pregnant with desire we were
cellswapping and mindtrading then I slipped
overswimming like a restless dolphin braying
in the pressurepot of all that was to be
man the first I was blue eye queen you were to me
I knew you before the birth of the universe
before space or time stars or flowers
you were Nova I knew the name you would have
and the violet scent your skin would possess
and that your hair would be long and brown
before these things existed in substance or form
billions of years before you were born
You were darling Nova feeding
on protons and neutrons cannibal woman breeding
and only the loving electrons to stop your overeating
and wanton sinful leering but I was hooked magnetized soul
I was searing and overneeding you resplendent queen
Nova your hydrogen shell was so intoxicating
wild and inebriating in a stout chemical solution
I remember you wished I had lips I could have kissed
your pink belly slowly evolving or said ‘I love you’
to your nascent human form then I remember hearing ‘man’
my name spinning out of the clouds from your quaking mouth-to-be
to me and I marveled at what evolution would do to you
just as the clang of creation began ringing in our ears
Nova we were life and love original at the moment of the bang
so resplendent human smudges when the pressurepot exbursted
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