Poem: The Attraction of Blackberries
Poem: The Attraction of Blackberries

The first time she tried to seduce me,(atoms falling in a vacuum)she asked about blackberries—(every mass exerts some gravity)Did I know their season, where they grow?(galvanometers, gravimeters)I could answer both easily—(tools to measure small attra…

Ode to Very Small Devices
Ode to Very Small Devices

As fairies for the Irish or leeks for Welsh,it’s the secret lives of small hidden machines,their junctures, and networks that inspire me:Mystic hidden functionaries that makeour made world live, brave little servo motors,whose couplers, whose eccentri…

Jacob’s Ladder
Jacob’s Ladder

I know now how the sparks can climb,in broadening arcs of ions—the heat they grow inside themselveslike some permission or belief.But at ten, it seemed mystical;their frown, glowing, then invisible.Gone. Save the odor of ozone.I was young and scared a…