Size / / /

Under French and Swiss, it loops

straddling resistance and neutrality

in tunnels that are many stories

tall. They'll accelerate particles.

Who knows what that means—

except their white coats and access keys.

The Higgs particle could be in reach.

OK. Signatures of supersymmetry, too.

Right. I say, accelerate this family.

Send mom round the rings.

Counter-rotate dad and kids

all of them riding seven trillion

electron volt beams like some carnie

just set it up in a mall parking lot:

"6 tickets a ride, or get a wristband."

Start the flight that ends with smash.

We'll all super-collide to find immensity,

energy, strange answers to strangers'

questions. Asymmetry's embedded here

in the universe—even families—even moms.

Somebody chose what stays and what goes.

Dark matter, gone. Life, the universe,

everything has 23 per cent dross, so mom

lick your finger, smudge the cheek of all

existence and say, Smile for the camera.


Marcus Goodyear is senior editor for a nonprofit foundation in Texas. His poetry has been published in several magazines including, Geez, Stonework Journal, and 32 Poems. You can read more of his work on his website, GoodWordEditing.com. You can email Marcus by visiting his contact page on his website.



Marcus Goodyear
Current Issue
16 Dec 2024

Across the train tracks from BWI station, a portal shimmered in the shade of a patch of tall trees. From her seat on a northbound train taking on passengers, Dottie watched a woman slip a note out of her pocket, place it under a rock, strip off her work uniform, then walk naked, smiling, into the portal.
exposing to the bone just how different we are
a body protesting thinks itself as a door out of a darkroom, a bullet, too.
In this episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li to discuss her foray into poetry, screenwriting, music composition and more, and also presents a reading of her two poems published in 2022, 'Ave Maria' and 'The Mezzanine'.
Issue 9 Dec 2024
Issue 2 Dec 2024
By: E.M. Linden
Podcast read by: Jenna Hanchey
Issue 25 Nov 2024
Issue 18 Nov 2024
By: Susannah Rand
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Issue 11 Nov 2024
Issue 4 Nov 2024
Issue 28 Oct 2024
Issue 21 Oct 2024
By: KT Bryski
Podcast read by: Devin Martin
Issue 14 Oct 2024
Issue 7 Oct 2024
By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Load More