Geodesy
by M. Frost
A branch of applied mathematics concerned
with the determination of the size and shape of the earth—
—Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
Unearth
your giant calipers.
Measure
our wide, blue circumference
marvel
the radius of wonder
as
from space. Annotate equatorial terrain—
sketch
the sin curve, the serpent coiled upon itself.
Mark the axes around which we spin,
as
the serpent curves, rotate—
claim each cold pole, the diameter of diamond.
Hunger for economy in each celestial line.
Pray you can solve the problems—line
breaks, litter of satellites, angles and bi-
sections within a radius of hate. Wars fought
wars
of economy and space
line
breaks
for geometric expansion, for reduction.
The global impact of a hundred human snakes
sections
of waste
whose gram weight calibrates infinity.
Insert these precisions into your key equation—
multiply and multiply until you have raised the power
the
power, again, the power—
past your capacity for measurement—
broken
numbers
divide the remainder by a common
denominator, that dark, scaled ancestor
who emerged from the sea, weightless as origin—
as
it crawled forth, legless and cold
as
it calculated the sun’s first gravity—
Return, at the end, rulers frozen, numbers burned—
unsolvable
problems, they regress
to
the orbit of this earth, this knowable mass—
with
prayer and calibration
call
it circle, call it source
call
it fire, call it ice
call
it to you, giant Ouroboros—
self-consuming snake
feel
how it gathers us equally in its mouth—
feel
how it gathers us all—
Copyright © 2008, M. Frost
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/P.S. Teixeira (Center for Astrophysics)
M. Frost lives in the D.C. area and studies in Baltimore. Her speculative poetry has appeared in numerous journals, including Star*Line, Strange Horizons, The Martian Wave and Paradox. Please contact her through her website: http://www.mfrostwords.com.