shadowgraph 56: with the film strips strung up

(poetry detected in walther bothe’s nobel physics lecture, 1954)

 

by Sean Howard

 

 

 

 

i

 

lab –

used

needles

 

 

 

 

ii

 

odd couple –

‘no waves with-        

out description’

 

 

 

 

iii

 

paris –

designer

clouds

 

 

 

 

iv

 

new order –

‘mirrors for

a giant’

 

 

 

 

v

 

thought –

the sub merged

with the water

 

 

 

 

vi

 

primitive reaction –

‘the film stripping

light from the sky’

 

 

 

 

vii

 

silence –

state

less

 

 

 

 

viii

 

berlin –

‘the individual

changed in groups’

 

 

 

 

ix

 

fusion –

death-

god

 

 

 

 

x

 

nuclear –

spent

time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sean Howard is the author of Local Calls (Cape Breton University Press, 2009) and Incitements (Gaspereau Press, 2011).  His poetry has appeared in numerous Canadian magazines as well as Illuminations (USA) and The Rialto (UK).  He lives in Main-à-Dieu, Nova Scotia, and is adjunct professor of political science at Cape Breton University.