oxygen and nitrogen and all other gases mix perfectly in air
no quarreling
no segregation
nearly inseparable
they mingle in perfect harmony to the joy of our
otherwise
indifferent universe
salt and sugar are poured into water
the sensual movements of a single finger through the liquid
are enough to cause a warm
entropic
orgasm
sweet release of energy
sending
solutes wherever the polarity might take them
perfect randomness
there are no wars between covalent and ionic bonds
no battles for supremacy
just divine disorder
a single spark is enough to break those all too organized
hydrocarbons into a fiery frenzy
their indomitable expansion powering our motors
as they
run tanks fighting to bring order
cement
mixers
building
walls to keep humans separate
to
keep cultures and nations pure
and
other tools for similar ends
churning
so loudly that
the moans of agony coming from the universe
go unheard
***
(Minneapolis, MN -- March, 2016)
I thought this poem was from 2017, but it turns out it was one of the poems I wrote back in the first poetry course I took in 2016, right after I had taken a class on thermodynamics at the University of Minnesota. The task here was to write a poem based on a scientific or artistic concept. The inspiration for this is that the Universe favors disorder. (This is what the second law of thermodynamics loosely describes). For example, when a piece of wood burns, a single, large, solid molecule gets broken into several gas molecules flying around randomly, thus increasing the chaos of the Universe. However, humans don't fit this concept; we're always trying to divide, separate, and organize the world around us, often through violence and bloodshed. Additionally, this is my first experiment with using indents and spacing instead of punctuation. Punctuation, by giving structure and order, goes against the second law of thermodynamics.
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