Stephan’s Quintet

Stephan’s Quintet

written by: Craig R Kirchner

Galaxies in the Pegasus constellation,
discovered by Edouard Stephan,
photographed now by the James Webb telescope,
which is in an orbit
one million miles from earth.

This cluster is 290 million light years from us,
there are almost 6 trillion miles in a light year.
If a telescope in this Quintet
is photographing us, today, they are
witnessing the dawn of dinosaurs.

We cannot conceive infinity, but these numbers,
this vastness, make things we worship,
and worry about seem totally insignificant.
In my future, all five or ten years of it,
when I’m totally depressed by politics,

perplexed by the questions of religion, mortality,
or my inability to open anything child proof
without breaking a nail or chipping a tooth,
I will be consulting with Webb, Stephan,
and this photo to give it some big picture context.

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• About
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Craig R Kirchner

Craig has written poetry all his life, is now retired, and thinks of poetry as hobo art. He loves storytelling and the aesthetics of the paper and pen. The parallel, horizontal, blue lines on white legal, staring left to right, knowing that the ink, when it meets the resistance of the page will feel extroverted, set free, at liberty to jump, the two skinny, vertical red lines to get past the margin. He was nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize, and has a book of poetry, Roomful of Navels. After a writing hiatus he has recently been published and has work forthcoming in a dozen or so journals.

Latest posts by Craig R Kirchner (see all)

• In The Corners - October 8, 2024
• Stephan’s Quintet - August 9, 2024
• Green Aura - June 6, 2024