We fandango/tango, our steps contradyne.**
You whirl in circles; I walk the line.
Your color wheel reeling spins textures of feeling.
I devise derivations for rainbow equations.
How would it be if we combined your circle and my line?
The helix is a circle that rises,
The double helix a staircase to climb.
Above the fog there are many surprises.
Everything must converge that rises—
The lotus the trellis that Christ’s vine entwines.
* The ancient texts of esoteric alchemy refer to a unification of masculine and feminine principles in the latter stages of “The Great Work.” I am reminded of the story “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor. The titles of that story and this poem were derived from the works of Teilhard de Chardin (Flannery O’Connor, The Complete Stories, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, New York, from the introduction by Robert Giroux, copyright 1971).
**Contradyne—an invented word meaning “manifesting the power of opposites.”
RICHSKI is retired from a career as a research scientist and educator. He currently resides in the twilight zone between scientific rationalism and poetic lunacy. His writing often has a spiritual or supernatural theme. Recent stories appeared in Esoterica (7/2/22), Uppagus (#47 8/21 and #53 9/22), and RavensPerch (3/29/23, 5/9/23, and 7/11/23.) His poems recently appeared in The Closed Eye Open (6/22) and Braided Way (8/19.)
