On the Meaning of Six

 (8/2025) 

In the 1600s Kepler presented a coherent theory:

planets move around the sun—

in ellipses, not circles.

 

 (The number 6 symbolizes balance

 and harmony).

 

The earth is not the center.

Humans are not the center.

Humans are brutal censors.

 

(The number 6 encourages selflessness

and duty).

 

Invaluable to navigators, Kepler’s theories

challenged world views.

 

Strangely – for those times—

the church did not execute him—

 

even though his own mother

was imprisoned for witchcraft.

 

(The number 6 is a balance between

material and spiritual realms).

 

“If the earth were to stop drawing

its waters to itself,

all the waters of the sea

would rise and flow towards the Moon.”

 

(The number 6 seeks alignment

and stability).

 

Kepler died of fever, no more, no less

happy than any of us.

Lineage

 (8/2025) 

A die-hard misanthropist, I haven’t even bothered

to acknowledge kin on Memorial Day. My great-Aunt,

however, holds regular seances to communicate

with our ancestors.

 

She has tracked our lineage all the way back

through slave-holders and land barons,

through castles and mud, past four-footed mammals,

squid, and synapsids. She has found us living

on a hydro-thermal vent among tube worms,

limpets, and shrimp.

 

I wonder just how disappointed my ancestors are

at my inability to weather the cold—

my deep fear of equally deep water—

my lack of gratitude for what others may have done

to make my small life possible—

a quiet endpoint whose only sound

is breathing.