Day 12 of 30: Global Poetry Writing Month and National Poetry Writing Month
Today's NaPoWriMo challenge is
to write an index poem starting
with found language from
an actual index.
Below is my index poem, based on the
Table of Contents of Fire in the Mind:
Science, Faith, and the Search for Order
by George Johnson.
“Fire in the Mind: New Mexico”
measure the height of the sky
with morada prayers
calibrate the level of
radiation in devotion
climb down the kiva ladder
to the depth of the atom
enter the assembly room of the stem cell with sage
smudge the steeple, the spiral staircase
of DNA
place the petri dish in the chapel
a microscope to study enlightenment
sneak into the cold, gray
cave of abstraction
to meet
the demons that accompany
knowledge: the world of faith
examined
atop four magic mountains
you will find Phaedrus’s ghosts,
the riddle of the camel,
the secrets of the nuclear age.
the dawn of recognition is
the question,
the spirit,
the nucleus.
science and god
a search for form
a leap into the unknown
© Kat Shamash, April 12, 2016
Comments