steve minnich
THIS IS THE ONE WHERE GRAVITY MAN GETS HIS NAME
one day somebody saw Gravity Man sitting under a tree, contemplating the weight of the world. this somebody did not know that the weight of the world is what Gravity Man contemplated. but they did know that it wasn’t a very good tree to sit under.
sure, maybe in her mother’s day, her grandmother’s. not anymore. core now rotted, roots uplifted. and on a windy day, too!
“Gravity, Man!” this somebody cried, pointing at the tree. Gravity, Man, the wind whispered, pointing the tree to the ground. Gravity, man. Gravity Man accepted, pointing to the center of the earth.
when the tree did fall, gravity pulled it all the way down. and Gravity Man too. the tree and Gravity Man at the center of the earth. Gravity. Man. somebody thought for years and years that what they had witnessed was a death, and they carried that to their grave.
when Gravity Man re-emerged, it was in a great tremor. he appeared as if spat out from the center. “But—Gravity? Man!” somebody was there to exclaim. there was nobody left that didn’t already know his name.
THIS IS THE ONE WHERE GRAVITY MAN FACES HIS GOLDEN AGE
Gravity Man reads in an old textbook that the Golden Age of Heroes is dead. it has a list of names : Super Man. Iron Man. with a name like mine, thinks Gravity Man, Gravity Man could be a Hero.
but when was the Golden Age of Gravity Man? in 1516, the old textbook reads, Copernicus dealt a great blow to gravity. the sun, so Copernicus said, does not revolve around the earth. in fact, it is reversed—the earth stuck in orbit around the sun.
how dreadful, to be stuck in orbit around a greater gravity. Gravity Man does not have this problem. Gravity Man knows he holds in his chest a force greater than the sun. he knows he could, at any moment, condense his gravity so discreetly as to draw in everything. to reverse, even, the Big Bang.
but this is not what happens. the universe expands infinitely as infinity expands. Gravity Man looks with wonder at the little moon just above his head, its silvering in the glow of a greater gravity.
what happens next is anybody’s guess.
IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE GRAVITY MAN READS A GRAVITY MAN COMIC
and does not recognize
himself. uncountable
tiny chunks of earth
in orbit around his center,
rings of gravity,
a hundred little moons,
a whole system of small objects
in orbit around his center and his center
an impenetrable shield
of focused gravity.
Gravity Man looks at his one little moon
and shrugs. reads of a hovering
Gravity Man that can rise
or fall at will, send anti-Gravity
Man-men rising or falling at will.
but the Gravity Man that I know,
thinks Gravity Man, holds balance :
not rising, not falling, but holding
the weight of the world
on a hundred little plates.
if Gravity Man focuses everything
into his center, he can hold
each of the tiny little plates
so securely
that each becomes a little moon orbiting
around his center, so many
plates orbiting around his center.
how the smallest shudder
might shatter them all.
the power of Gravity Man
is not a comic book power at all.
not Gravity Shields or Rays of Unbearable Weight.
not even Grav-Boots in his arsenal. no,
thinks Gravity Man, the power of Gravity Man
is holding a hundred little plates
in the air, so many fragile little plates,
and not giving way
to even the smallest
of shudders.
Stephen.R.Minnich teaches, tends bar, and makes space for reading and writing in Richmond, Virginia. he sometimes dreams he sometimes makes books he often shares them. he is just a little worm in this big big world but he is not hard to find. say hello. call him steve.