Phusis Poem by Michael O'Sullivan

When ashes ventured to Heraclitus
That more things may exist than fire
He disappeared into a sunny gap
Created by foreshortening of his stride.

As Ur-Syphilis whispered to dying Thales
That water had no monopoly on pain
The unitarian cried drops of semen
Whose unique salts made Ur-Syphilis extinct.

When flies debased all number to Pythagoroas
A gown surged forth from the ineffable,
Enmeshed all flies with their descendants,
Imparting Death its concentrated tone.

When a mushroom visited the atom bomb
Accusing it of flagrant imitation,
The atom limped back to the empty ark,
Convinced that nothing could replace the light
Convinced that nothing could invent the dark.