Winners

A big thank you is in order for all those who entered our Communicate Science Poetry Competition. We received many more entries than we could post to the blog, so commiserations if you're poem didn't make it.

We've picked three poems which we particularly enjoyed and each of these three poet/scientists will receive a copy of Seamus Heaney's New Selected Poems to further inspire them. These books come courtesy of World Book Night.

And the winners (in no particular order) are:

• Cell Wall, I love You by Madhankumar Anandhakrishnan
• Pulling the Thread by Ben Parker 
• Switch by Emily Dodd

Well done all!

This seems like a good time to sum-up my World Book Night experience. I signed up well before Christmas, not entirely sure what was going to happen, and certainly not really expecting to be picked as one of the 'givers'. When I was picked, I was a little nervous - I wanted to ensure the books went to homes where they would be enjoyed but also to places where books might not normally be a number one priority.

In the end, I received a lot of books to distribute (more than the 48 which had been mentioned) and spent much of Friday and Saturday giving them away. In some cases, I gave them to specific people. In others, I left them in a place where I knew they would be snapped up quickly. I left them in libraries, but I also left many on park benches and in bus stops. I hope there are many people around Cork who found one of the books and took it home and it brought a bit of happiness to them. Maybe, as the organisers suggest, they will pass the book on and the process will start all over again.

In general, although there were a few issues with the organisation of things like the website, the event seemed to run pretty well from my point of view. I was very happy that I gave away the book I did and can recommend taking part to others. You can sign up to take part in World Book Night 2012 on the website.

Science Poetry Competition: Finalist Five

The fifth of our finalists for the Communicate Science Poetry Competition. We'll pick the three winning poems shortly.

The competiton is now closed. You can see all of the finalists here.




Switch
by Emily Dodd




My Energy Saving light bulb,
You're my switch to make things right.
You're my graduated, understated, ice cream of de-light.

Switch

What you lack in elegance,
You redeem in radiance.
What I lack in eloquence,
You redeem in pounds and pence.

Switch

You're my personal sunrise surprise,
My shining light of bright demise.
My world is changed now through your eyes,
To summarise. - I love you

Switch

Awaken curiosity,
Unveil the eyes of all to see,
The marvel of technology,
In your potential energy.

I crave your luminosity,
But there are those who do not see...

Switch

They do not see your glory,
Blind to your wattage story.

My energy saving light bulb,
Oh why have they forsaken you?
Forgive them, forgive them.
For they know not watt they screw.

© This work is the copyright of the author and should not be used in any way without their express written permission.

Science Poetry Competition: Finalist Four

The fourth of our finalists for the Communicate Science Poetry Competition. We'll pick the three winning poems shortly.

The competiton is now closed. You can see all of the finalists here.





My Western Blot Limerick!
by Jeanne Garbarino


Run the proteins after I clear ‘em

A nice bath in five percent serum

Film in the cassette

Who’s placing the bet

That the signal will break the tedium

© This work is the copyright of the author and should not be used in any way without their express written permission.

Science Poetry Competition: Finalist Three

The third of our finalists for the Communicate Science Poetry Competition. We'll pick the three winning poems shortly.

The competiton is now closed. You can see all of the finalists here.





Cell wall, I love you
by Madhankumar Anandhakrishnan


Nobody knows how you came into being...
There's more to you than what we are seeing!

We dream of a day when your mischief stops;
But thanks to you, there are big grants and jobs!

Your bizarre lipids and proteins make the bug a bug...
No wonder, you're a nightmare to almost every drug!

There is a huge deal you owe.. to that layer of wax;
You teach me so much- from Rsym to Vmax...

So, you are my favorite entity of them all...
Good (well, not-so-) old mycobacterial cell wall!!!

© This work is the copyright of the author and should not be used in any way without their express written permission.

Science Poetry Competition: Finalist Two

The second of our finalists for the Communicate Science Poetry Competition. We'll pick the three winning poems after the closing date.

The competiton will close at midnight tonight! See here for details on how to enter.





Deserted by Science
by Matthew Watson

Deserted by Science
You’re new found reliance
On sugar and magnets outrageous
As everything burns
The planet still turns
And we all start to bleed, it’s contagious

So back to Dark ages
Where your angry god rages
You suck on the snake oil and venom
And grope in the dark
For the medical ark
‘Cos the charlatans know how to tell ‘em

We’re too tired to give
Took the alternative
Hope you’re happy with ‘nature’s’ advances
Help’s not from above
When push came to shove
Should’ve taken empirical chances

© This work is the copyright of the author and should not be used in any way without their express written permission.

Science Poetry Competition: Finalist One

The first of our finalists for the Communicate Science Poetry Competition. We'll pick the three winning poems after the closing date.

The competiton is still open! See here for details on how to enter.





Pulling the Thread
by Ben Parker

He used to say that with enough attempts
the true consequences of any act
would be revealed, like wallpaper, peeled
discloses the room’s unseen history.
And so, at parties, in bus queues, on trains
he would seize at loose threads on jumpers and pull
and, as far as I know, the thread would break
each time and he’d get shouted at, or punched.
But once, I was told, the cotton connected
with a memory of spider’s webs
and remained intact while the jumper, loosed
from its moorings, unfurled onto the floor.
He remained calm and continued to tug,
teasing out the cord like you’d coax the truth
from a taciturn child stood, embarrassed,
over the broken remains of a vase.
And then the trick, the silent switch from classic
Newtonian physics to a quantum playground
as cord catches on tendon, tendon on nerve
and with the quick release of a pulled root
sinew un-spooled and flesh and bone
was spun into perfect, fibrous yarn.
Dust motes abandoned Brownian motion,
protons twisted free from the atoms drag
and, if he hadn’t quit the scene and fled
the whole Möbius strip of existence
would have unfurled and fallen into line.
The last I heard, he was refining this theory,
going house to house, lifting up carpets,
opening draws, searching for answers.


You can read more from Ben Parker on his website.

© This work is the copyright of the author and should not be used in any way without their express written permission.

So, what rhymes with science?

To celebrate World Book Night, which this year takes place on Saturday 5th March, I've got three copies of Seamus Heaney's New Selected Poems to give away. I'll be giving away another 45 copies to schools and individuals in Cork courtesy of World Book Night.

To be in with a chance to win a copy of the book, and in keeping with the poetry theme, just compose a science-themed poem and submit it by email here.

It can be as long or short as you like, and any style you want, as long as it has something to do with science!

Rules:

• The poem must be entirely your own work.
• Closing date for entry is Thursday 3rd March.
• Judges decision is final.
• Submit your poems here along with your name and a general location.