Poetry and Science, 2nd Post
The general direction of the posts on poetry and science is on their relationship as modes of knowing, of understanding, and expressing. This post, though, deals with science as a subject for poetry. First, for your pleasure, I propose David Lunde's ghazal. "Of Stars," which appeared in the fifth issue of The Ghazal Page for 2004. A Persian ghazal in form, "Of Stars" traces the human fascination with the night skies and their bright, dazzling inhabitants. ("Of stars," as you might expect, is the radif.)
Here are the first two shers of the poem, but you really should read the entire piece:
The Milky Way swirls, a wizard's cloak of stars;
Around we wheel on a slim spoke of stars.
Honor that most clever, most sapient ancestor--
When first he spoke, he spoke of stars.
"Of Stars" can be seen as a science fiction or speculative poem. The Science Fiction Poetry Association is devoted to the SF genre of poetry. The SFPA is an active organization, with a journal, prizes, and other avenues into SF poetry. Their Dwarf Star prize anthology for 2006 was edited by Deborah P. Kolodji, whose work has appeared on The Ghazal Page. Her ""Dark Matter" explores scientific imagery in an open ghazal form. Kolodji also has a poem — a cinquain — on Astropoetica. David Jalajel also has a poem scheduled for Astropoetica.
A cinquain is a five-line form invented by the American poet, Adelaide Crapsey in the early twentieth century. Deborah Kolodji is editor of Amaze: the Cinquain Journal.
Another genre of science-related poetry is "lab-lit," which I just learned about through a discussion list. The lab-lit site seems interested in fiction and factual prose, not poetry. It is worth your time to visit, with a serialized novel and other items.
Finally, from The Scientist magazine's Web site, here's an article that explores the questions:
"What good is science to poets? And what good is poetry to scientists?"
Those questions are close to the ones I want to explore further in posts on science and poetry.
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