April Poetry | Nobody thinks much about helium

Nobody thinks much about helium

by JoEllen Moldoff

my husband, the professor of curiosity
says between spoonfuls
of his super nutritious breakfast cereal,

yet it’s the second
most abundant element
in the universe.

I half-listen, as I scan
the New York Times on my iPad,
searching for good news.

Our kitchen is a lecture hall
and he is the professor of astrophysics,
that is, for today.

Tomorrow he might be
a neurosurgeon, and we’ll
study synapses, cortexes and dreams.

Next day, he’s an economist
with facts and figures to tell
the sad tale of income inequality.

So when he looks up
from his current book and says
now this is interesting…

I know he’s enrolled in
the university of his mind, happily
forming new connections
in his 92 year old brain.