The Earth’s a pot of water on the range,
and nothing happens for a billion years;
then as the water heats, things start to change
and movement – formless, unaware – appears.
Next the first tiny bubbles start to form,
brains self-assembling, they form, collapse,
form and collapse in water barely warm,
minds that start yearning for some Great Perhaps.
They grow, they start to rise, still fade away
while dreaming of a life that will not fail;
and this is humans as we are today,
starting to boil up from this mortal jail
to break into the vastly bigger air…
unknowing where steam goes, what happens there.
*****
This is as close to religious belief as I can get. Somewhere at the intersection of Nietzsche and Vonnegut, of reincarnation and “It’s all a simulation”, with Musk aiming for Mars and wondering aloud if he’s an NPC, is a place of absolute and unknowable change. And that’s where we are.
‘Bubbles’ was first published in Pulsebeat Poetry Journal.
“Boiling Pot” by Brad Ruggles is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Form in Formless Times 
Dear Robin, I enjoyed your sonnet very much… but, as a sonneteer, I do my best to avoid the repetition of words within the form, unless their re-use has a structural or semantic purpose. There are four uses of start and one of starting, and three uses of form. Obviously, one form is needed for the rhyme, but if you substitute swell in the swell and collapse (which obviously needs repeating) then you have that lovely mouth-filling double l… Here’s my suggested revision, which I’m sending to you privately this way, instead of posting it as a public comment. The Earth’s a pot of water on the range, and nothing happens for a billion years; then as the water heats, there comes a change and movement – formless, unaware – appears. Next the first tiny bubbles start to form, brains self-assembling, they swell, collapse, swell and collapse in water barely warm, minds that are yearning for some Great Perhaps. They grow, begin to rise, still fade away while dreaming of a life that will not fail; and this is humans as we are today, boiling up slowly from this mortal jail to break into the vastly bigger air… unknowing where steam goes, what happens there.
Mike
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I appreciate your thoughtful comments, Mike… but I yam what I yam. 🙂
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