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COUNTERFACTUALS (rewritten)
�What is particularly curious about quantum theory is that there can be actual physical effects arising from... counterfactuals -- that is, things that might have happened although they did not..."
Roger Penrose
1
I didn�t marry the right man
For twenty years and now, see
How fat he has grown
Against the sickle of my body
He knocks at my bones
Asking nothing
For the rest of my life
2
Each year a new death
Hard swallows the knot of pearls
Choking my throat
God�s long shadow
Dogs my heels
3
No plum-eyed girls
Shanghai dance
In the year of the dam
Danger, dance with opportunity �
Nothing is certain
4
On the hill above my old house
The dead gather weeds ---
In half an hour
Three bushels!
We remember everything,
Boast empty panes
Behind the swinging door
A four-cornered wind
Flings stone at sky
Not only can I stand another poem, but "Counterfactuals" is a perfect example of how a true poet is never satisfied with a first version(as I smugly was). I remember the original version well, and I fell into it as if I had lost my footing and fell into the Grand Canyon. There was that much to consider.
This revision, however, is far superior to the original. Personal Muse or not, it represents untold hours of searching for not only the most effective words, but more importantly, for that elusive quality that establishes you,as you are justifiably deemed, on this very website and in other places, as a poet. A real, bonafied, dyed in the wool, undeniable poet. Once more I'll paraphrase my old pal Sappho and say,"Raise high those roofbeams yet again. Phoebe Sparrow cometh." High five, T1! Paula, Reperked
Posted by: Paula Kirkpatrick at August 31, 2004 11:23 AM