Poet of the MonthJoanna ValenteMay 05, 2020Stephen Langlois, poetry, poet of the month

May 2020 Poet of the Month: Stephen Langlois

Poet of the MonthJoanna ValenteMay 05, 2020Stephen Langlois, poetry, poet of the month

An Infinite Exertion

Let’s say you’re the sun,

radiating the energy of a trillion nuclear bombs.

Me, I’ll strip Mercury of its metals until it—

that is to say, the whole of the planet—

has been thoroughly disassembled.

From these metals I will construe

an array of colossal hexagonal mirrors—

let’s say thirty quadrillion of them—

which shall then be dispatched into the sun’s orbit

whereupon they will encompass the sum of that star

and refocus the totality of its light—that is to say,

the power produced via

the perpetual fusion of hydrogen into helium—

to a series of collecting stations.

Each station will operate with unprecedented efficiency—

let’s say one hundred quintillion times

that of the average nuclear reactor.

Within each station shall be generated an unfathomable voltage,

a dynamism for which the mind is hardly fit to comprehend.

That is to say, an infinite exertion

the force of which shall provide

the energy necessary to build still further out into

the cosmos. Distant planets shall be terraformed, colonies

constructed, interstellar travel finally realized.

All of which is to say,

from a single source of energy will the future be fueled.

The sun—that is to say, you—shall provide the means for

this endeavor and my next and my next after that.

Stephen Langlois is a writer and photographer living in Southern California. He is the recipient of a NYC Emerging Writers Fellowship from The Center for Fiction. His work has appeared in Glimmer Train, Joyland, Lit Hub, Hobart, Barrelhouse, and Split Lip Magazine, among others. Visit him at www.stephenmlanglois.com.

Joanna Valente