John C. Mannone

The Potter

I see nothing but Milky Way.
Yet behind it, a myriad of galaxies
swirl in the deep black lake
of time. The prehistoric sky
now blazing before the stars.
He took clay, sculpted the bowl
of stars, from the same clay, us.
His deft hands pigmented night
with black vitrea glaze, gold flecked
with suns, layer after layer
to the edge of creation. We,
no longer void, no longer empty.  

John C. Mannone is a widely published award-winning poet nominated for the 2009 Pushcart Prize and the 2010 Rhysling Poetry Award. His poetry and short fiction appear in numerous literary and speculative fiction journals such as the Pirene's Fountain, Aethlon, Iodine Poetry Journal, The Linnet's Wings, Eclectic Flash, Liebamour, Liquid Imagination, Silver Blade, Astropoetica, and Static Movement. His work is also anthologized in Lame Goat Press and with several other presses. Professor Mannone teaches college physics and is the senior editor for the Journal of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers.