poem

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Last edited by vetivert on 07 Dec 2005, 5:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

eyup, sorry I've only just spotted this...

it does have a mathematical precision to it... very polished and aesthetically pleasing to read (reminds me of T.S. Eliot in that respect).

I liked this a lot - feels like the lament of a lonely scientist, stark, clinical yet deeply expressive.

dunc is off to brood...

thank you, thank you, oh thank you....
for reading the poem!

can you tell i was p*ssed off with someone? an ex (shock!)

and eliot is possibly my favourite poet (close run thing with dylan thomas) - to be compared with eliot.............

i'm off to be sedated, in case i stim myself into orbit...

V

you like eliot and dylan thomas too!! I love the way thomas used language - like a paintbrush. Under Milk Wood is comic genius.

are we separated at birth?



dunc

you were born?

By the way: The product of matter and anti-matter is pure energy (in the form of photons I'm pretty sure) not "nothing".

How did this slip past me?

Brilliant poem vetivert! Brilliant!

I have not heared of this technique before.

My physics knowledge is far from perfect - but I like the way you use science as a metaphor for your relationship. It's amazing how patterns in two completely separate areas of existence can reflect each other so closely...

thank you muchly for the feedback, folks

and, for anyone who's interested, the book "the poet's manual" by frances stillman tells you all about poetry forms, and much more. invaluable.

I don't really understand the metaphor I'm afraid but I like it anyway.

I suppose the phrase Matter + Antimatter = Nothing is a kind of reference to Gerd Binnig, Nobel Laureate for Bose Einstein Condensation. The actual phrase he used (coined?) is "Matter + Matter = Vaccuum", referring to the (possible) destructive interference of two Bose-Einstein-Condensates with large de-broglie wavelengths. With energy-time uncertainty, you can theoretically get all kinds of "Equations" that involve matter, antimatter and nothing on both sies of the equation, of course

Btw, Maxwell himself wrote some pretty good (though more humorous than sophisticated) poetry about physics. And there is some nice poetry about mathematics in German, by H.M. Enzensberger.

oooh, ta, till. there's also a range of science poetry in "a quark for mister mark"... at least, i think that's the title (can't be arsed wandering downstairs to check).

I've just read the original poem again, or tried to do so, however, I am afraid I must say it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, as in, the "science" seems a bit dodgy. I very much like the way the structures get twisted however, like "mean 'time' when you say 'space'", which seems to break up the logical flow of the lines just where it hurts most, which is, I suppose, a good way to express uncertainty and the collapse of causality. Personally, and purely for entertainment, of course, I would like to see some more modern poetry that goes beyond wave/particle duality and the "old" paradoxons of QM, maybe something along the lines of quantum field theory, gauge theories etc. I sometimes think think the philosophers, after only just coming to terms with the concept uncertainty can't really keep up with contemporary physics, so maybe at least the poets can?

I don't get anything you guys are saying, but I read a stupid article about a baseball never coming down. I didn't believe it, but it said stuff like That was the day the town spit in Sir Isacc Newton's face.

It is definately a lot to grasp in one reading, but I like it. I'm horrible with metaphors, so don't ask me for my interpretation. It was strangely forbidding, yet enticing at the same time. Good work.

I was pointed to this by someone responding to a comment I made about not "getting" most poetic metaphors. First, let me say this: I am invariably impressed by sestinas. I have discovered this about myself. I have yet to write one; not that I think I can't but it never really occurs to me to do.

As for the poem itself: I love it. I love the fact that you made it seem like you were reading something coherent, not a forced structure. It could almost be given as a lecture in a class as easily as being read as poetry, if all the facts are right (of that, I have no idea). At any rate, it does seem likely that it is about a relationship which isn't working out, but, as I mentioned, I miss most metaphors.

EDIT: Read back. From what you said, I'm assuming I was right.