shadowgraph 94: beneath the iron skin
(poetry detected in antony hewish’s nobel physics lecture, 1974)
i
flash! – windblown, the
solar temples… (special speeds child-
ren.) nightlong: light chatter. (nebula; crab
apples.) shelters; the radio
calling for
rain
ii
‘different planets’ – cam-
bridge, manchester… (drugs; high
walls.) the knot before time? excavation: iron
soul. ashes – england collaps-
ing
iii
scattered: the astonished
dead. (‘within reach’? the wind out-
side the plane…) math – father
figures. the scanned
of god. (inun-
data.) the floor un-
der our
feet?
iv
clock: flat
earth. (the world turned
on our head.) concepts? crust-
cake. bolted – iron
horse
v
hmm – ‘the uni-
polar globe.’ (ah, the old
midas convertible!) ‘sorry?’: do unto
atoms… light; thought’s strain. a weird feeling
of eavesdropping... stars – silence,
small
talk
shadowgraph 111: profile in flames
(poetry detected in nicolaas bloembergen’s nobel physics lecture, 1981)
i
doctors tending to
wound. (saturn in the
sack, trying to maintain
his position…) freud cho-
king: ‘now the hole can
be eaten!’ the man well
on top of himself? ‘no
place to be’ – when
energy levels the
world
ii
controlled valence. (tera-
ism.) audiovisceral. the f-
lay & the light; ‘electrons
literally pulled out of their s-
kins!’ (the manner of fact?) in-
sidious; the effect that doubles
each individual… rising on
the backs of women. happy
ending? the ugly coup-
ling