To Space and Beyond

Whatever empty space is

I think about it

and it doesn't seem to notice

my thought

That empty place is locked

inside the wrong of me

that I see every day

Those who are pleased

I suffer

are rewarded by it

It is an expanding emptiness

certainly not black

for something to be black

there must be something

to absorb the light

but inside the light fades

an empty jug

deeply empty

atoms of thought

pushing farther into nothingness

and I'm spread out

until the edges aren't just thin

this toast has no butter

this music has no vibration

this painting has no color

no frame

no canvas

I hang it on my wall

to remind myself

of its memory

which is nothing at all

sprouting into the distance

a growing plant

unable to gain sustenance

from its impossible growth

without a root

pushing deep

into a dirt-free soil

Barry G. Wick