A Thousand Suns by Sean Horsely

"If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one."

-translation from The Bhagavad Gita


A thousand suns fall & each so there are

sun leaves an imprint of my shadow a thousand me’s

on the wall— frozen in white plaster;


A thousand silhouetted & when a thousand suns die

Hiroshima’s bent & & bury themselves

staring. into the horizon


a thousand me’s I can only think

grow & extend their limbs while starring at a thousand

like gnarled sunflower leaves. curled me’s


that their molecules each particle inflicting its

(if any)are contortionists own will on each atom,

that bend & curl inward each knotted strand.


A thousand me’s My molecular structure

envelope me: the alpha is reorganized

& omega. by a thousand hands.


Finally, an implosion No more trees,

a mushroom cloud, only bare stalks

an epicenter. left in the earth.


My ashes are scattered momentarily breathing,

into the sky as a thousand

& hang, stars.


Editor's note: A Thousand Suns was published in the fall 2009 issue of "The Paper Lantern" at Normandale Community College.

Author bio:

Sean Horsley is a creative writing student and moderately penniless poet in Minnesota. In 2009 he won first place in the Patsy Lea Core Competition for Creative in the category of poetry, hosted by Normandale Community College. His only publication history thus far is in his school's (Normandale Community College) creative writing publication "The Paper Lantern". Some of his literary influences include: Sylvia Plath, Arthur Rimbaud, John Berryman, Paul Eluard, Hart Crane, Robert Creeley etc.