THE PERFECT LENS

 by shaun lawton 

Spied through a crystal ball 

crafted in mid-suspension.

Perfect as the concept 

in a cryogenic vat slung in low-gravity within

a perpendicular wave-tank in which crystal 

spheres are crafted on the far side of the Sun.

Torched under heat of waldos

in laboratories connected by concentric rings.

Spun to gyroscopic and pinned

against the perihelion of a heavy G-contrast.

The computer executes the mold

from the colloid at the centrifuge.

Remote controlled from here on Earth 

at the instant of gravitational balance.

A more optimal form not possible. 

The digital midwife delivers the contacts

in just under thirty-six weeks.

No limit to their focus 

Calibrated from a star.

SHIFTSHAPERS

 by shaun lawton 

We're shattered into the universe

& I'll tell you how, once long ago

during a brief spell while

the tide pulled away, the under-

lying secret to the beauty of life

and the world was revealed to us,

somewhat terrible in its stark

essence, yet beloved in a sort

of arresting heart-attack which

begins with that moment of

love at first sight. 

   Our world remains because 

of a series of wild digressions,

not to mention our continued

survival.  It's how we

translate the term 'survival'

that feeds back into and affects

our perpetual existence. 

   When we learn how the body

remains a temporary vehicle

for the one soul that exists,

a shift occurs in our program-

ming that helps us adjust

to adapting.

SL

Nov 17, '23

SLC  

THIS ORGANISM

by shaun lawton 

seething breathing living in peace    

 feeling fury  fighting to live

  growing knowing  showing your naked heart

 this organism  breathing 

concrete clawing  steel eyed 

 drawing real lines  across the sky 

   tracing  erasing  vaporous  convulsions 

  facing construction  erection  demolition  inhaling 

 control organized realized  faith in humankind 

trust in science  depending  on nature's totality 

 exhaling  burning  fuming  seeking  finding

   balance  losing it  choosing it  using it

  breathing in   this physical addiction  to Godhood

 breathing out  psychological trickery  self denial  delusion intrusion  collusion  confusion  movement 

 stillness  crowded solitude  comfort in togetherness 

   alone to the bone  on the phone  boiling 

  evaporating  hating  loving  feeling nothing 

 caught up in this  slow motion  explosion

this breathing  expanding  retracting  organism 

 flying into the unknown  known  blind only 

  to find  familiar strangeness  sprouting

   everywhere  asphalt cracking  in turbulence

  serenity  chaos  calculating  luck  chance

 taking giving  choosing  or not  to believe

STORY OF AN EYE

by Shaun Lawton

within a stone lies the cut
  blossomed seeds interlacing
 into a filigree of filaments

coalescing just beneath
  the surface of the rippling

 central pool split crosswise
the kernel incubating into
  a young spiral galaxy

 emerging from a vortex

crying light in saline

  globules freed from
 the unpredictable wink

within the seed a compressed

  scene when unfolded blooms
 into all of the trees

our eyes the mirrors
  the forest gazes into