Science Poems 1. (4) Poem by Margaret Alice Second

SOAP-BUBBLE UNIVERSE

Imagine the beautiful, fragile soap-bubbles of
shimmering voids formed by great explosions
galaxies streaming in filaments

Imagine a sponge, dark voids filled with invisible
galaxies, unknown particles outlined against the
Great Wall opposite the star sign of
Perseus-Pisces-Pegasus

Which would you choose?

The Universe is a patchwork, cosmologists
cannot decide whether it is bubbly or
spongy, so I base my choice on the
subjective criterion

Of aesthetics – let it be a fragile and beautiful
soap-bubble universe


EXCITING SPECULATION

Mystery creating exciting speculation
in the infinity of a moment of eternity:

In the year nineteen hundred and nine
near the Grand Canyon's dramatic impact
a man, Hicaid, found a subterranean city
built with the most marvelous precision
to accommodate fifty thousand people

And mummified bodies of Oriental or
Egyptian origin - tantalizing titbits of
information presented for speculation
about its significance - enlarging the
range of my imagination…


PARTICLE ZOO

A theory about
exploding atoms
in an atomic blast
proof of particles
that cannot last

Scientists used to claim
atoms should only contain
three types of particles

But when atoms are smashed to bits
new types of particles form, dif-
ferent 'flavours' of different
kinds of 'quarks' -
what a lark…

'A quark for Mister Mark...'

Now we know it is true:
there exists a real
particle zoo


DNA STRINGS

Mapping strings of DNA code
such a great bore, one day a
scientist just couldn't stand it
any more

No more looking, but listening
for each part of the string
he wrote down a note

When the DNA score was played
he listened in wonder to the
musical themes of the
DNA strings

In the song of the cells such sweet
melodies were ringing, while tunes
created by cancerous cells were sad,
slow and sickening...

Do composers know it is so;
do they delve into their own self
to find beautiful tunes?

When my heart is singing and soar
with a tune on musical wings, my
words express the literal truth…