A Journal of Formal & Metrical Verse


Bubbles

For Chris

They are so hard to catch. These things defy
The laws of physics. Rising from champagne
Flutes, from orchestras, they even fly,
Laughing, from small children. They contain

No real meaning. Bubbles are absurd
Symbolic structures anyone can make
Cheaply from diluted soap. A word
Could not possess less value. If you break

A bubble nothing happens. They don’t curse
Or go upsetting seismographs. The skin
Detects a little something—mist—at worst—
A highly localized cloud burst. But in

Some atomic way, all these events
Lead back to a Big Bang. If that makes sense.

By Eric Norris


Eric was born in Buffalo in 1968. These days he works as a law librarian in New York City. He enjoys swimming, running, and reading Soseki Natsume in his spare time. Though not always in that order and not always in Japanese. His work has appeared in Ganymede, Bay Windows, and the poetry anthology, This New Breed: Gents, Barbarians and Bad Boys 2.