The Soul of Everything – a poem by Kai Coggin

The Soul of Everything

the optometrist
and I sit in the dark 
he shines 
a beam 
of light
through to the back 
of my eye
I see 
that I hold my own orbing planets
in these sockets

right retina
a jupiter swing 
bending bright blue waves
to some dark space inside my head

left retina
its own violet Venus
in how she holds on to moving light

pathways unveiled
black holes turned inside out
to brilliance
and when he finishes
says the exam is over
I carry imprints
of two bright stars
burning
on my eyes
and everywhere I look		(light)
in faces			(light)	
in trees				(light)	
in a lifting bird		(light)	
this new aura clouds my vision
as I move through the world
my windows
fully open 
to the soul of everything

Kai Coggin (she/her) is the inaugural Poet Laureate of the City of Hot Springs, and author of five collections, most recently Mother of Other Kingdoms (forthcoming, Harbor Editions, 2024) and Mining for Stardust (FlowerSong Press, 2021). She is a Certified Master Naturalist, a K-12 Teaching Artist in poetry with the Arkansas Arts Council, a CATALYZE grant fellow from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, and host of the longest running consecutive weekly open mic series in the country—Wednesday Night Poetry.