Tag Archives

universe

THE INVERTED EUCALYPTUS

In the unlit room, the glass-topped table

reflects the crepuscular, upside-down

image of the tree. In this small picture,

the Moon is descending through its branches.

 

Through the window, a hazy full Moon,

trailing south easterly clouds, is rising,

with the shimmering Evening Star, above

the eucalyptus, across a darkening sky.

 

How fast we move through the universe and yet

how still the glass on the table and the panes

in the window, the tree and its image,

the ubiquitous eucalyptus, appear:

 

an accidental, antipodean

masterwork of reality and dream.

A COMMONPLACE

David Selzer By David Selzer0 Comments1 min read380 views

The succulent, bright green shoots of early spring;

the blackthorn – on distant hedgerows like

sporadic late frost or, close to, pearls

of scattered barley; the tiny goldcrest

with its mighty voice – see see see, see see see:

presage the summer’s rich beneficence.

 

This is her second spring. She points with wonder

and joy at a sudden breeze that shakes

the cherry tree, disturbs its white petals

against the bluest sky, the brightest sun.

She is walking now – or, rather, teetering

fearlessly through her own universe

of daily marvels: dead leaves, small children.

Adept for quite a time in her own

lingua franca soon she will learn ours,

a mundane, quotidian miracle.

 

AT JODRELL BANK

David Selzer By David Selzer2 Comments1 min read547 views

The radio telescope trundles on rails

in a landscape of dairy cows and ponds,

tuning into the dispersing cosmos.

The universe is replete with sound. We

fill it with meaning and impedimenta.

Star sailors embark on metaphor

and intricate engines. We record

the energy of suns dead longer than

dinosaurs. We listen to stars yet

tolerate hunger – and we stare still

into the black wonder of starry nights.

Like addicts, we exploit experience.

The ether is redolent with humankind,

our majestic jabber.

 

Acknowledgement: This poem was first published in ‘Still Life’, a poetry anthology published by University of Chester Press – http://www.chester.ac.uk/search/node/still%20life

ZELEZNIK’S THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

Though there is no evidence that Busby

Berkeley was a descendant of Bishop

Berkeley (in spite of the Californian

connection),  who would deny that George

were the spiritual, or, rather,

philosophical ancestor of Bill.

Bishop George Berkeley, John Smibert, circa 1729
Busby Berkeley circa 1935

Hundreds of girls’ legs opening in unison

is a pure if anachronistic

example of the Irish Divine’s hypothesis.

And Busby was keen on fountains too!

Fountain Scene from 'Footlight Parade', 1933

So, if long dead Dick Powell, that innocent

tenor, seems to be hoofing still then

esse is truly in percipi!

Dick Powell with Ruby Keller in '42nd Street', 1933
Dick Powell with Ruby Keeler in '42nd Street' 1933

Though revelations of absolute truth

are commonplace and transitory,

the universe is an uncertain place.

Ludwig Wittgenstein July 1920

In 1915, Wittgenstein’s whistling

a Mozart clarinet concerto whilst

on active service in the artillery

workshop in Cracow in spite of his

rupture seems to be a quite different

phenomenon from the stain which has appeared

on our bathroom ceiling.