᠅
The black and white photos came with the claim: “We are just nature”That is true, but the photos showed
in juxtaposition
a thorny stem next to a human back and the peaks of its spine,
a human wrist with raised vessels next to a jagged lightning bolt,
a human neck with head tilted back to show cartilage and sinew next to a craggy mountain slope.
Art and science are not separate, and the parallels to be drawn
are good fodder for observation and metaphor.
are good fodder for observation and metaphor.
But a spine is not a stem and vertebrae are not thorns.
The cause of lightning is worlds different than how veins are formed in bodies.
The shape of your neck is not a result of the Earth’s crust crashing into itself.
The way physics acts on grains of sand is not the way the human psyche works.
A mother does not pass her body image issues through inherited cellular materials.
The cause of lightning is worlds different than how veins are formed in bodies.
The shape of your neck is not a result of the Earth’s crust crashing into itself.
The way physics acts on grains of sand is not the way the human psyche works.
A mother does not pass her body image issues through inherited cellular materials.
“These things look the same” says nothing, gives no insight
about the world and how it works.
It is lovely to find inspiration,
but folly to imply relationships where there are none,
to choose the dots to connect in whatever way suits you,
to draw conclusions about our behavior based on theirs.
That false connecting line
pretends to offer meaning, but is empty.
about the world and how it works.
It is lovely to find inspiration,
but folly to imply relationships where there are none,
to choose the dots to connect in whatever way suits you,
to draw conclusions about our behavior based on theirs.
That false connecting line
pretends to offer meaning, but is empty.
But there is still poetry
in a sunrise.
Gently falling snow
or endless crashing waves
do something to a soul.
These things are true.
These things have meaning.
I won’t say they carry the conscience of the universe.
I will carry them with care.
Sometimes the only way to describe a feeling
is to invoke tectonic upheaval.
Maureen is an analytical chemist in central Iowa whose work can be found in Backchannels Journal and the Bond Street Review. No links, just support your local mutual aid organization and give a big, long (consensual) hug to someone.
in a sunrise.
Gently falling snow
or endless crashing waves
do something to a soul.
These things are true.
These things have meaning.
I won’t say they carry the conscience of the universe.
I will carry them with care.
Sometimes the only way to describe a feeling
is to invoke tectonic upheaval.
᠅
Maureen is an analytical chemist in central Iowa whose work can be found in Backchannels Journal and the Bond Street Review. No links, just support your local mutual aid organization and give a big, long (consensual) hug to someone.