Poem for Wednesday and Futures Exhibit

Relativity
By Sarah Howe

for Stephen Hawking

When we wake up brushed by panic in the dark
our pupils grope for the shape of things we know.

Photons loosed from slits like greyhounds at the track
reveal light’s doubleness in their cast shadows

that stripe a dimmed lab’s wall—particles no more—
and with a wave bid all certainties goodbye.

For what’s sure in a universe that dopplers
away like a siren’s midnight cry? They say

a flash seen from on and off a hurtling train
will explain why time dilates like a perfect

afternoon; predicts black holes where parallel lines
will meet, whose stark horizon even starlight,

bent in its tracks, can’t resist. If we can think
this far, might not our eyes adjust to the dark?

-------- 

I actually got a lot done on Tuesday, though folding the laundry was not accomplished. I sorted all the greeting cards that I spent most of last week scanning, then listed them in my local Buy Nothing group. I'm hoping there's a Hebrew school teacher who can use the Jewish New Year, Chanukah, and Passover cards, which are lovely. I did some of this sorting while watching the season finale of The Gilded Age, which was as disappointingly bland and wussy as the entire season has been -- I feel like everything important that has happened this season could have been covered in less than two hours. It was a glorious day for a walk -- we have purple rhododendrons in bloom and pink azaleas starting and big loud bumblebees in our yellow pieris, plus a bunny who's been hanging out in our neighbors' daffodils. 

We had leftover Thai food for dinner because it was quick, then my Voyager group watched the still-terrible "Real Life" in which we learn that what 24th century men with women captains really want is Stepford wives who praise them while serving them their favorite meals and keeping their kids in line -- oh, and that what female engineers want to do is read romance novels, braid their hair, and visit the men's holonovels when the ship is in a big crisis with spatial anomalies. After that, we caught up on Billions, in which Chuck finally gets smacked down for being a massive hypocrite. From the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Futures exhibit, some treasures that thrilled me including a tortoise robot, a Goddard rocket, a Hyperloop vehicle, a flying car, and Octavia Butler's typewriter!