After Jerry Gretzinger and his map
Jerry’s Map from Jerry Gretzinger on Vimeo.
Me reading the poem as originally published:
Let there be light
The poem is a mash-up of two cosmogonic narratives, one from the Hebrew Bible, one from science:
From the Hebrew Bible: The poem references Genesis 1.1, drawing language specifically from Robert Alter’s translation:
When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.
From science: The poem also draws inspiration from National Geographic’s documentary One Strange Rock, which tells the story of how life began on and survives and thrives on Earth, as told by eight astronauts. As I wrote, I had this clip about the formation of Earth in mind.