This poem was composed as a collective where each student was allowed to write a single sentence. The ManBearPig and daffofil topics came up during the symposia session when experiments on molecular chemistry (with specific reference to things like DNA) were performed. – – – Grasping the flower gently, He is ½ man, ½ bear, ½ pig, with flowers, from Imagination Land! Walking down the isle with a beautiful white dress flowing behind her, the Manbearpig carries a large bouquet of daffodils. Manbearpig lives in a cruel world of injustice. Hairy, muddy, humany. That’s Manbearpig. Being a Manbearpig is very…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From creative
PERSONAL BIOGENETIC ANALYSIS: PROSPECTUS
I want to be racially profiled, But not by a cop at a stop. I want to find out, By the hair in my snout, What my parent’s parent’s parents Were all about. I’d like to take the yarn of my DNA And compare it to the yarn they’ve been spinning – Aunt Millie says we’ve never been related To anybody who hasn’t been winning. Uncle Ferdinand buries his head in the sand When I mention the Arab in the Jew. And you shuffle and mutter, my dear darling dutter, When I mention the me in the you.
A COLLECTION OF POEMS
Untitled (ice cap) If you went to a polar ice cap as an explorer or whatever and found a woman encased in ice looking up, mouth open, yellow robe maybe she even has a shield would you, tired and itchy, think of her as an Ideal, fall to fighting your companions to the death over the hard cool promise of fidelity, or, sticking to your guns, circle the ice shard watch her staid lips and say it’s only science? — Untitled (humans) When humans are a simple glance in a museum they shine — Untitled (whalebone) Slices of whalebone gently…
ON STRING THEORY
My coworker helped her grandmother move out of her home recently. She was 94, she’d broken her hip and now had to move from a small house in the mountains to a residential care facility in the city. The whole family helped pack up her things and prepare the house to be rented. Like almost everyone who lived during the Depression, she had saved everything. In the attic they found a medium-sized box that was labeled: pieces of string too short to use. (Originally published on October 9th, 2005)
A COUPLE OF EVOLUTION/BIOLOGY-RELATED HAIKUS
I had no idea Wikipedia reveals strange platypus truth. It is venemous Charles throws up his hands This freak of nature gave Darwin conniption fits. Sighs. “Oh for fuck’s sake.”
A CREATIONIST FAQ
Q: What is the principle evidence for Creationism? A: The Holy Bible, of course. After all, is it likely that the author of the Universe would be mistaken about its age? Q: But isn’t the Bible religion and not science? A: Truth is truth. It’s a poor sort of science that ignores truth. Q: But isn’t there a lot of evidence for evolution? A: Not really, most of it is from university professors writing papers for each other. If they didn’t write papers they wouldn’t have jobs. Q: How big was Noah’s ark? A: Big enough. Q: But what about…
DESCENT OF DOG
Samson shivered in the early morning chill, jingling the chain joining his collar and leash. The sun was a big orange food bowl hanging low on the horizon, bathing the neighborhood in its warm glow. Most of the residents were still in bed at this hour, but a few dotted the sidewalks with their best friends in tow. Samson led his best friend a few blocks to the park. It was the first Sunday of the month, which meant Pug Day. Many breeds of dogs came to the park, but the overwhelming majority today would be Pugs, the flat, wrinkled-face…
LIMULUS & CHARLIE
Charlie wears broken glasses held together with tape and toothpicks. He is unemployed and occupies a one-bedroom apartment in Westchester, California, a half-mile northeast of LAX. Charlie eats in his car. His 1991 Nissan Stanza is a mausoleum of fast food, Frito Lay and Little Debbie wrappers. When Charlie was in the sixth grade, some of his classmates took to calling him “blubber butt.” Although the nickname didn’t stick, he has not quite gotten over it. Limulus is a distant relative of the sea spider and one of the oldest creatures in the ocean. These spiders were among the first…
I.D. ON THE STAND
A retelling of Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District,with apologies to Ernest L. Thayer The outlook wasn’t brilliant ‘neath that Pennsylvania sky: The courts stood N to zip before the new case here to try. Creationism in the schools had died a legal death, And now as Rothschild rose, Gishville IDers held their breath. The Pandas text was soon invoked in early draft. The I- D faithful clung to dogma calling evolution lie. They thought, “If only Behe could shore up this house of sand — We’d get it in the classroom yet, with Behe on the stand.” But Gillen…