October 20, 2005

Potential Difference


Grainy shades of wanting, quantified
sloping pain tracked by a needle
knowing the empty pull of
copper veins, stretched staring
for bare electric motes in chorale
straining over the break
in parallel - blind buzzed and piled
one on the other - and air strengthless
between, carrying nothing, stretch
over the needle, there, how much?

Empty potential, stored cold battery
high and untouched tight wire humming
nothing, but over the break, invisibly
the reach of far-blind dizzy flakes
scatters in my blood, (the needle
shows it), finds the graded span
between that flush far-afield
snowdrift-lonely huddle,
and the surge
home.


It's been so very long since I wrote a poem about physics. This one explains the idea of voltage in clear words we can all relate to. Ah, electrical potential difference, you make my heart beat and always will, what with the sinoatrial node and such. Been a long time since I've written any kind of poem, though. That's the downside of knowing of, and in some lucky cases just plain knowing, so many better poets, it can quiet you down a lot. I can always shrug it off on account of stories being more my thing. I finished a new one. It's probably too big to put up here, I'm workshopping it and then probably trimming it down. I'll cut it from 12 pages to a paragraph and then post the key sentence stand-alone, like an verbal extreme closeup.

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