Annelyse Gelman: “I studied cognitive science and worked doing research in social cognition labs because I wanted to understand how people think, and I write poetry for exactly the same reason.” (website)
Anna M. Evans: “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (known as England), I acquired a master’s in chemical engineering. I have spent the last 25 years trying to escape it, moving continents and gaining a further master’s in creative writing, but it still resurfaces thematically in my poems. It is also arguably one of the reasons I mainly write in form (number patterns!) and is definitely why I am currently teaching a quirky undergraduate course entitled ‘Poetry & Math.’” (website)
“Tohoku Ghost Stories” by Meg EdenPosted by Rattle
Meg Eden
TOHOKU GHOST STORIES
We remembered the old ghost stories, and we told one another that there would be many new stories like that. Personally, I don’t believe in the existence of spirits, but that’s not the point. If people say they see ghosts, then that’s fine—we can leave it at that.
—Masashi Hijikata
the old woman who visits me for tea is dead but I don’t have the heart to tell her
every time I see my mother there’s a pool of seawater in her room
and still no one’s removed that boat off the top of the Sumitomo’s building
if a boat can get all the way up there what keeps us from disappearing into the sky
like the woman who walks each morning across the ocean and back I wonder where I’m going now
what can I talk to my friend about these days I still have my son
who collects the things found on the beach someone’s television set a rusted refrigerator
a woman says that soon this city will be filled by God but is God a tsunami that takes years to drain out
the phone calls I get are from numbers that don’t exist
my husband calls his friends several times a day how are you? how are you? just in case
Otsuchi becomes a great washing machine again tumbling us in and out of memories
it’s come to the point I can’t even go out in the rain anymore that’s when I see
puddles like the eyes of dead people what can I do put them in a cup
my daughters were lined up like bowling pins outside the school waiting for the earthquake
why didn’t I keep her home from school that day she complained about her throat
every day someone new is sick whatever we try to rebuild is barricaded by ghosts
even taxi drivers refuse to go to Sendai afraid of catching ghosts
one man’s address led to a concrete slab the man was gone but the driver opened the door
just in case I was never high enough I kept climbing the stairs but how do you outrun an ocean
with all the old houses cleared and the new ones rising it’s becoming hard to remember what we looked like before
Meg Eden: “I have worked as a research assistant in linguistics and cognitive science. I started this position right out of undergrad, and as such, felt thrilled to be involved in any way with the sciences—even if that meant I was just doing admin tasks. But I was very blessed to get to work with researchers who encouraged me to contribute ideas, and to be informed by the current scientific literature relevant to our projects. I found that reading these scientific articles and exploring the scientific world prepared me to come home from work, and respond to what I was learning through poetry. The science provided content, the poetry provided voice. I found that my poetry became stronger during this time because my idea of what poetry was expanded—I found poetry in academic articles, in fMRI scans, in working in and learning diverse languages. For me, exploration and learning are vital to both science and poetry, so the collaboration made sense.” (web)
Med Eden is the guest on episode #42 of the Rattlecast! Click here to watch …
Dennis Caswell: “I received a master’s degree in computer science from UCLA way back in 1981, and I’ve made my living arguing with computers for over 30 years. They’re starting to win. Until now, I’ve always maintained a firewall between my day job and my writing, but I think scientists do have something in common with poets. They’re both committed to following the truth wherever it leads them, whether anyone likes it or not. I’m no theorist, but a beautiful theory also has something in common with a beautiful poem: They both pack a powerful payload of insight into a small bundle of compressed elegance that, once you grasp it, feels inescapably true. The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing, the father of computer science, in 1950. There are several versions, but they all involve computers attempting to imitate human conversation. In one version, a human interrogator has simultaneous typed conversations with another human and with a computer and must decide which is which. Turing proposed the test as a more tractable alternative to the question ‘Can machines think?’ The value of the test is still debated, but it has captured the imaginations of programmers and researchers, who compete annually to see whose software can fool the most humans. The Turing Test has yet to be definitively passed, but it won’t be long now.”
Daniel Becker: “I teach at a medical school. Science, like poetry, needs the best words in the best order to say what it needs to say. Craft is craft. However, it takes months and years, even a decade, to have results that are worth sharing. Between articles and grants and reports I work on poems and stories. I get to invent the data.”
Len Anderson: “I have loved tinkering ever since I became fascinated by the mystery of radio reception as a child. I have a PhD in physics from UC Berkeley and did research in experimental elementary particle physics there and in Europe. I also did research in air pollution for the U.S. Public Health Service and worked for sixteen years at Measurex Corporation, developing sensors for automation and quality control in paper manufacturing. Now my fascination with mysteries and my love of tinkering have found another outlet.”
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