n (homo sapiens derivation)
1. in chemistry, a spume of basic elements
cast upon the welcome shore of an undistinguished
planet.
2. in music, a small strand of counterpoint
in the cosmic melody of six billion tunes whistling
through the grand atomic score.
3. in particle physics, a coalescence of star
stuff merging to a wholeness dense with life,
riddled with chance.
4. colloquial, a small smudge on the window
of eternity.
5. in religion, a transparency veiling a large
unknowable design, a lone hitchhiker
from the dark abyss.
6. in philosophy, there is no question
to which it is the answer.
Copyright 2016, Sharon Scholl
Sharon Scholl is a retired professor of humanities and non-western studies (Africa, Japan). Her latest chapbook is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. Single poems appear in Adanna, Caesura, and Kalynos Language Press.