Dept. of Poetry
Thursday, 21 March 2019 01:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rToday is World Poetry Day
I haven't written poetry in a long time; I'm not sure why. Years ago, I wrote more. Because it's World Poetry Day, and because next month is National Poetry Month, I went back to look for something to share, something I've done occasionally over the years.
So here, have this, because what I wrote in my last post reminded me of the ones I love.
Heaven Is a Formula
I believe and believe and believe
with the front of my brain and my heart.
I whisper “x equals--”, “x equals--”, “x equals--”
and tilt my head, thrust my jaw...
How long do I ignore them?
Unacknowledged but perceived, to the side -
physics,
gravity, airless space,
forward rushing time.
Now I think,
“Formulae are dynamic.
They grow and diminish, they create and destroy.
They are alive,
and so inform the universe.”
Either this is all true
or it is not.
I am the extra weight,
I am the final sine.
Cosine.
Greater than.
Less than.
I am part of the formula
that powers the stars in their paths.
I defy gravity and smash against rocks, triumphant.
I breathe in vacuum --
my head explodes in victory.
The heat death of the universe is reversed.
Mine the hand.
Mine the mind.
Mine the terrified heart.
And, look!
My grandmother lives again.
I haven't written poetry in a long time; I'm not sure why. Years ago, I wrote more. Because it's World Poetry Day, and because next month is National Poetry Month, I went back to look for something to share, something I've done occasionally over the years.
So here, have this, because what I wrote in my last post reminded me of the ones I love.
Heaven Is a Formula
I believe and believe and believe
with the front of my brain and my heart.
I whisper “x equals--”, “x equals--”, “x equals--”
and tilt my head, thrust my jaw...
How long do I ignore them?
Unacknowledged but perceived, to the side -
physics,
gravity, airless space,
forward rushing time.
Now I think,
“Formulae are dynamic.
They grow and diminish, they create and destroy.
They are alive,
and so inform the universe.”
Either this is all true
or it is not.
I am the extra weight,
I am the final sine.
Cosine.
Greater than.
Less than.
I am part of the formula
that powers the stars in their paths.
I defy gravity and smash against rocks, triumphant.
I breathe in vacuum --
my head explodes in victory.
The heat death of the universe is reversed.
Mine the hand.
Mine the mind.
Mine the terrified heart.
And, look!
My grandmother lives again.
no subject
Date: Saturday, 23 March 2019 07:57 am (UTC)that powers the stars in their paths.
I defy gravity and smash against rocks, triumphant
(I have so many problems with gravity I think I'm actually doing that right now, but lo how I digress.)
Does the ending indicate a time travel of some sort?
no subject
Date: Friday, 29 March 2019 01:02 am (UTC)Does the ending indicate a time travel of some sort?
Actually, the whole poem was a meditation on balancing science and faith, and my thoughts on how the highest forms of mathematics are extremely close to metaphysical philosophies. With that thought in mind, I considered how mathematics, even more than physics, are the building blocks of the universe - and if that is the case, then humans could affect that universe simply by working in higher maths. There was a great deal of rueful acceptance of my illogic, even as I gloried in it, hence the lines about fucking up being a triumph ("I defy gravity and smash against rocks, triumphant.") Ultimately, it was my determination that I could, if I could just understand the universe better, bring it round to allowing me to see my beloved grandmother again.
I know that's a lot of verbiage, but all of that really went into the poem.