NIGHT'S SOLILOQUY

(1881)

by Ellen Mary Clerke

Who calls me dark ? for do I not display
Wonders that else man's eye would never
see?
Waste in the blank and blinding glare of Day,
The heavens bud forth their glories but to me.

Is it not mine to pile their crystal cup,
Drain'd by the thirsty sun and void by day.
Brimful of living gems, profuse heap'd up.
The bounteous largesse of my royal way ?

Mine to call o'er at dusk the roll of heav'n.
Array its glittering files in order due ?
To beckon forth the lurking star of Even,
And bid the constellations start to view ?

The wandering planets to their paths recall.
And summon to the muster tenant spheres.
Till thronging to my standard one and all,
They crowd the zenith in unfathom'd tiers ?

Do I not lure stray sunbeams from the day.
To hurl them broadcast as wing'd meteors
forth ?
Strew sheaves of fiery arrows on my way.
And blazon my dark spaces in the north ?

Is not a crown of lightnings mine to wear.
When polar flames suffuse my skies with
splendour ?
And mine the homage with the sun to share.
His vagrant vassals rush through space to
render ?

Who calls me secret ? are not hidden things.
Reveal'd to science when with piercing sight
She looks beneath the shadow of my wings.
To fathom space and sound the infinite ?

In plasmic light do I not bid her trace
Germs from creation's dawn maturing slow ?
And in each filmy chaos drown'd in space
See suns and systems yet in embryo ?

(Source: Huggins, 1907)

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 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.

3 Science Poems by Emily Dickinson

Continuing our series looking at Science and Culture, the following are three science themed poems by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).
More than 200 of Dickinson's poems make reference to scientific themes including physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, botany, physiology, medicine and psychology. She also deals with science in general terms as well as mathmatics and the appliance of science or technology (White, 1992).





Faith is a fine invention

"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see-
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.



A science

A science—so the Savants say,
"Comparative Anatomy"—
By which a single bone —
Is made a secret to unfold
Of some rare tenant of the mold,
Else perished in the stone—

So to the eye prospective led,
This meekest flower of the mead
Upon a winter's day,
Stands representative in gold
Of Rose and Lily, manifold,
And countless Butterfly!



Nature, the gentlest mother

Nature, the gentlest mother,
Impatient of no child,
The feeblest or the waywardest,
Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill
By traveller is heard,
Restraining rampant squirrel
Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation,
A summer afternoon,
Her household, her assembly;
And when the sun goes down

Her voice among the aisles
Incites the timid prayer
Of the minutest cricket,
The most unworthy flower.

When all the children sleep
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light her lamps;
Then, bending from the sky

With infinite affection
And infiniter care,
Her golden finger on her lip,
Wills silence everywhere.

Plant Watch: Common Poppy - a cultural icon

The Common Poppy (Papaver rheoas) can now be found throughout the country on land which has been recently disturbed due to cultivation or building.

This relatively abundant agricultural weed forms seed which can live for a long time in the soil, before germinating when soil disturbance leads to them being exposed to the right light and moisture conditions for them to grow.

A classic example of such seed dormancy was demonstrated on the Somme battlefield when wild flowers recolonised the land disturbed by battle during World War 1. Since then, the poppy has become a cultural icon in the UK and was adopted by the British Legion as a symbol commemorating the dead of that war.

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, written in 1915, makes prominent use of the poppy.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

John McCrae

P. rhoeas (or Corn Poppy as it is commonly known) is the most important broadleaved weed species infesting winter cereals in the south of Europe. Its highly persistant seed make it difficult to control and it can decrease wheat yields by as much as 32%.

Herbicide resistant populations of corn poppy have now been recorded which will make control even more difficult in these regions.

The cradle of true art and true science

Einstein wrote that "the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious—the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science". With this in mind, today we begin a semi-regular series of postings on the topic of science and culture.

We start today with a nod to all of those who are currently sitting state examinations in Ireland or who have just finished. The science exams have begun and are being reviewed elsewhere. The higher-level English paper however included a poem by the Dublin poet Paula Meehan and is just the sort of thing that this series of posts will cover. As Einstein also said: "The greatest scientists are always artists as well"