new poem by Jim Fowler

Hi folks, here's a prose poem that first appeared in Space and Time magazine. Have fun reading it, I did writing it.

Renowned

The atom, that received the first blue ribbon for existing, still exists. After the awards banquet, the atom caught the red-eye on Big Bang Air, its ribbon around what it calls a neck. The atom makes a respectable living on the after-dinner-speaker circuit. It gets to visit all the well-known hotels and conferences. On its way through the solar system the atom slammed into Earth, bringing about the death of a Broad-Bordered Grass Yellow butterfly in China and causing a series of tornadoes in the Texas panhandle. The atom landed in the feed trough of a turkey farm in South Carolina; it settled in the right breast of the turkey that ate it. The turkey was slaughtered, frozen, and shipped to the supermarket. You bought it, brought it home, stuffed it, and roasted it for five hours. Late last night you ate the atom in a leftovers turkey sandwich. At this moment, everything in your stomach is listening to a motivational speech given by the atom. After nearly twenty-billion years it is a very fine speaker. Don’t panic, the atom will soon be moving on.