October 6th, 2012
Phyllis M. Teplitz
QUANTUM PHYSICS-TRICKS
This morning my glasses weren’t
right by my book
where I left them last night.
Nor anyplace else I looked in the house—
by the computer mouse,
even in the fridge where I once
found the sugar bowl, AWOL.
My sapphire-blue sweater,
heisted, I’m sure,
by some mischievous poltergeist.
I once saw a Cairo airport photo—
a mountain of luggage, unclaimed.
I imagine somewhere there’s a tower
of my treasures, un-named,
long since spirited away—
maybe my seed pearls, crystal beads,
my dragon kimono,
slinky silk, Chinese red.
Ten satin scarves, hand painted.
Two cashmere coats. Twenty-one
umbrellas left on busses and trains.
Still, another hypothesis
I have yet to prove—I believe
the atoms in my glasses came unglued.
Just flew apart, all over
the blue carpet.
Even the ceiling, the walls,
invisibly messed
with recalcitrant optical particles
refusing to stay coalesced.
–from Rattle #23, Summer 2005
This is such a clever and fun poem about one of the great mysteries of life. So well done! Thank you.
I have an outdated outsider’s view of Quantum Physics set in the days of the Dancing Wu Li masters, which allows me just enough under the surface of these images to grin broadly and add this excuse to my daily loss of glasses, keys, and other things. Indeed, aging may itself be explained in the quantum languages.