An Oral History of the Flat Earth by Michael Bazzett
Editorial intern Brandon Hofmann on today’s short: Every once in a while, we—modern, scientific, logical people—examine and reconfigure our knowledge when we discover proof of new facts. However, there are some previously theorized truths that must be argued for and given new life. Michael Bazzett’s “An Oral History of the Flat Earth” inverts what we observe about the universe in light of distantly discovered truth. So root yourself to the spot; let’s ponder the reverse side of the reverse side.
an oral history of the flat earth
You want to know what it was like?
Maybe begin with the pause of a small animal. Start with grace.
Begin with unspoken tender words between boys in the woods.
Start with what lives in the in-between, the air in the bell before
it is struck, the hollow in the cello.
Then discover the flatness. Not merely plains. Planes. An entire
planet shaped like sheet-cake. And on the other side, people
with hair that tugs strangely upward, like confused roots.
Because gravity is the law, and scholars insist the reverse side
has a reverse side, which is us.
After thousands of years, understand the sun is not an object
but a cleanly cut hole in the plane of the sky, and white light
comes through the aperture from a world made of nothing
but snow. The notion of a sphere of burning gas was apparently
easier for the mind of primates to grasp, much as they once
grasped stone knives to cut apart their rivals. Hence the old
superstitions.
In the end, gaze through telescopes on mountaintops and see
an entire cosmos of spheres. Understand life is impossible
elsewhere. Feel alone. Like a snake in the weeds as the
lawnmower approaches, no bigger than a shoelace, motionless
and wondering: What is this thrumming up through my belly?
What is this hum?
The recipient of National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in both poetry and translation, Michael Bazzett is the author of five collections of poetry, including Cloudwatcher, winner of the Stern Prize from The American Poetry Review, forthcoming from Copper Canyon in early 2026. His poems have recently appeared in GRANTA, The Nation, The Paris Review, The London Magazine, Poetry Magazine, and The Sun. Find him on Instagram and Bluesky at @mikhailbazharov.
