Whisking this one in to the We Write Poems weekly prompt! I forgot to tackle this one earlier in the week, and things were busy yesterday. They did one of my favorite prompt-basis things, which is to include several random object/image categories, and require each of them to appear once. (The “charm bracelet” Reveries I was fond of used this concept.) In this case, it was an emotional state, a piece of dinnerware, a sign of affection, and a unit of time. The working title for this was “Physicist vs. Poet”, but I think that really, the two are closer — in capacity for awe at the simple things and holding many things in the mind at once — than people may think.
The Navier-Stokes Equations
When the cream hits the coffee, you quote
physicists and chemists to explain the action of it:
delta-this and sigma-that, radial flow
and the crock mug convecting warmth,
ringlike, around your fingers
and I do love to hear you prattle
about the order of the universe
curled and cupped by the curve of a tablespoon
although I wish you’d let me describe:
a birch tree in fast-forward dying by the second,
ventifacts of limestone, cumulus anthropomorphous,
all these pale unsolved things suspended
in a crock mug, and how
we are like old harvest gods when we take
two sips, tonguing it all in, trading its taste
from mouth to mouth and swallowing it
whole.
Joseph, there is so much to like in your smoothly accomplished words, but especially like your repeat of the shared cup image. Your poem reminds me of an old friend, who was a Chemistry Teacher and one of the better poets, I came to know. He opened the door to my late in life teaching career, and I helped him find the key to his creativity closet. We shared many similiar conversations. Thank you,
Elizabeth
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/going-inside/
The right brain / left brain contrast over a cup of stimulating coffee is brilliant!
What a gorgeous poem. That dance between the scientific and the poetic. One of your best.
Poets are nice but comparing themselves to physicists is just arrogance and folly. Physicists are the supreme arbiters of truth in the universe – poets just broadcast an agreeable version of truth.