Two Poems
Ian Gibbins
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I see them and look them away
and see stinger-ray hide in bush
jackal-plum make jam round feet
stripes bright them cross my eyes
them dark in blue-sky rumble-cloud
in lightning-steel-bolt that fall them
burn them to ash to puff of skin-
smoke as if bone-dead and going
gone but I still see them hear them
song-in-my-ear voice telling them
to sit quiet just don’t move them
just wait wait them to final return
or maybe we letter them open
read them again under mulberry
under koala-gum honeyeater-bud
tell them how where when we say
them in adventure big-news-story
we wish them lion-heart wild-dog-
brain-cunning double-claw them
climb for a better view once more
feel them in love then warm with
hand-grip in ours ring-finger them
like memory we wish them well
all together see them fade-away
perhaps we were them will be them
spectres of them shadows on tiles
pavements avoiding them missing
them afraid of spider-snake-lizard
at bay intersecting sparrow-hawk
spotlit them we hoodwinked them
ate with them counted tried to name
them push-pull-cajole consign them
to hiding-hole-safe accommodate
them left-among-us still-ahind-us
we watched them watched us come-
and-go and come and go-and-go
The Exclusion Principle *
We are not to be confused. Complications will be reduced to a simple rule.
We are not subject to other principles.
We cannot occupy the same states at the same time.
It is impossible for us to have the same values. We must be different. We must have opposites.
The exchange of our identities is asymmetric, underpinning our everyday, our large scale stability.
For any ground state, this is true, this zero, the first, the last, a sphere, these repulsive interactions of infinite strength, connected, clustered in some manner.
Yes, this is how we share, short range, long range, simultaneously, a continuous band of energy levels, a sum of states so degenerate they cannot contribute to this variety of combinations, our exotic occupation.
We depend on our outermost shell for stability. If disrupted by extreme pressure, this enormous rigidity may collapse.
But, no, this cannot happen.
We cannot, we will not, violate this principle.
We will overcome.
This explanation will be extended to all.
*Pauli’s Exclusion Principle is a fundamental property of matter that defines key aspects of atomic structure and underlies most if not all of chemistry. The text samples the Wikipedia article on the Exclusion Principle.
Ian Gibbins is a widely published poet, video artist and electronic musician with four collections of poetry, all in collaboration with artists. His video and audio work has featured in gallery exhibitions, public art commissions, performances and international festivals. He previously was a neuroscientist and professor of anatomy. Ian Gibbins is online at www.iangibbins.com.au
