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Camena Interrupta
The measured words of poetry
Rise round the mystic sphere,
Sift through the dirt or sing divine
In strains that soothe or sear.
But now the stanzas halt and freeze:
Eternity is stilled—
The dog looks guilty at the door
The poet’s muse is chilled.
Goodbye “the crescent in the sky,
Reaping a horde of crows . . .”
Holding his breath, he scoops the mess—
The muse must hold her nose.
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Dark “Matter?” Dark Mind?
As galaxies outwardly swing,
The “mystery mass” is the thing:
__They thought it was gravity
__But All is a cavity—
So Physics was left holding strings.
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The Theist and the Atheist
The theist and atheist stood their ground—
Each felt their viewpoints were logically sound.
“Did matter precede mind, or mind matter?”
They mixed polemics in cosmic batter.
“Spontaneous generation evolved
And evolution proves the matter solved.”
“Then amoebas became woman and man?
So chance rolled dice, and consciousness began?”
They debated through the day and the night:
Did Light herald darkness, or darkness, light?
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Peter Venable has been writing poetry for 50 years. He has been published in Windhover, Third Wednesday, Time of Singing, The Merton Seasonal, American Vendantist, The Anglican Theological Review, and others. He is a member of the Winston Salem Writers. On the whimsical side, he has been published in Bluepepper, Parody, Laughing Dog, The Asses of Parnassus, Lighten Up Online (e. g. # 48) and the Society of Classical Poets.
Peter, these are three wonderful poems. I especially identify with “Camena Interrupta.” Muse visits are often short and our efforts to decipher the thoughts instilled in our minds may not come out the way we planned. “Dark Matter, Dark Mind” is a synopsis of how physics on earth attempts to explain the universe and then must face new realities. I have written some poems about the theist/atheist debates and positions. Your synthesis of the issues is masterful, and your last couplet demonstrates the debate will continue. Enjoyable reads!
I like the 3rd poem best. A more<expanding purpose than the chicken and the egg?
“They mixed polemics in cosmic batter” – what a line!
To the mind of a college physics major, “Dark Matter?” Dark Mind? is most entertaining. Is “All is a cavity” shorter than the “gravity” line to suggest a cavity? If not, I think another syllable might help reading rhythm: “All is a dark cavity,” or “All is merely cavity.” I love the concluding reference to string theory. Fortunately for me, my physics professors were too practical to teach it, and I only discovered its absurdity later. And speaking of absurdities, the scoop-away line in “Camena Interrupta” offers a splendid image of crescent and crows.