Published May 1st, 2023
by Fred Edwards
(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
The universe exists.
Say nothing else.
I can say nothing else.
You can say nothing else.
No explanation.
No excuse, justification, raison d'être.
The universe is ignorant.
It knows nothing.
Like a rock knows nothing.
Like sand knows nothing.
Stars know nothing.
The sparrows outside the window
brown flutters like falling leaves in October.
They know something
food and water and fear of hawks.
They know.
They know.
They know these things and more.
They know the universe exists
sparrow molecules and atoms
sparrow quark and charm.
I know them.
The universe exists.
There is nothing more to say.
Biography
Fred Edwards is a Toronto writer, editor, and translator.
He is co-editor of two translation anthologies of Chinese fiction,
Dragonflies: Fiction by Chinese Women in the Twentieth Century,
and Endless War: Fiction and Essays by Wang Wen-Hsing.
This poem is included in Poetry World #6, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Previously published in Canada Poetry Magazine:
The Nuns
by George Moore
Canada Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
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