Member-only story
Looking Back
I had to build my own origin stories
“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.” - Carl Sagan
I would venture to the moon and back
to look at the earth from far away,
this pale blue dot full of urgent thriving.
A web of lights that ring the ceaseless waters,
lumens in the deep,
a weird and endless snow.
I want a reason for all of this
but I didn’t grow up with legends.
I’ve no grandparents to spin their tales
of an ancient evil or serpents in the dark.
The only medicine man in my family
smoked cigarettes and compiled coded gospels.
Sure, we had a Jesus turning fish into wine
and of bread–maybe it was the other way around.
I had to build my own origin stories,
of the water, the massive stars,
the skyward death of the dinosaurs,
about why Lot had a wife without a name,
and why a god would need so much salt.
Maybe that’s why we cannot drink the ocean–
it’s filled with our judgment,
a seasoned cauldron of our gaze.
Perhaps someday. Life is long.
Perhaps someday we will.
©️ Trapper Markelz 2022
