Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

The Hands That Hold the World

This is the freebie poem from today's Poetry Fishbowl. It was prompted by janetmiles, newroticgirl, and zianuray.


The Hands That Hold the World


The hands that hold the world together are things we never see.
Our ancestors climbed the ladder of DNA without ever noticing
the sturdy rungs of adenine and guanine, cytosine and thymine.
We do not hear the humming of hydrogen atoms as they bind
the amino acids together, nor the quacking of quarks in the sky.
The mitochondria are pets that our cells decided to keep, long ago,
and aeons later a caveman raised a wolf cub and called it new.
We do not stand on the shoulders of giants, but on the tiny hands
of the countless connections that create matter out of energy
and life itself out of the strange bright shadow of potential.
Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, poem, poetry, science
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  • 10 comments
newroticgirl

newroticgirl

March 10 2009, 18:04:35 UTC 12 years ago

TINY PETS! YAY! :D I feel so proud. *sniffle*
arielstarshadow

arielstarshadow

March 10 2009, 18:48:38 UTC 12 years ago

I can't ever see the word mitochondria without thinking of Madeleine L'Engle's books.
lizamanynames

lizamanynames

March 10 2009, 20:13:05 UTC 12 years ago

Yeah, me too. :)
ysabetwordsmith

ysabetwordsmith

March 11 2009, 05:18:08 UTC 12 years ago

Same here. That was part of my inspiration too.
lizamanynames

lizamanynames

March 10 2009, 20:15:39 UTC 12 years ago

Ooooooooh, I love this. I sometimes just stop and stare at my hand, fascinated by the thoughts of the tiny worlds at frantic work, utterly unperceivable by me, but without which I would cease to be.
ysabetwordsmith

*laugh*

ysabetwordsmith

March 11 2009, 05:16:58 UTC 12 years ago

I do that too. Bodies are fascinating.
fayanora

fayanora

March 10 2009, 23:36:24 UTC 12 years ago

My mitochondria wag their amino acids in response to this.
wyld_dandelyon

wyld_dandelyon

March 11 2009, 08:34:33 UTC 12 years ago

Very nice!

Sorry I missed the fishbowl itself. (I know, participation at the time isn't required, but I choose to share the sentiment with you anyway.)
ysabetwordsmith

Thank you!

ysabetwordsmith

March 11 2009, 21:32:14 UTC 12 years ago

I'm glad you liked this poem.

Yes, I missed you at the fishbowl. There's always next month, though. It's nice to know that people enjoy this project so much.
browngirl

browngirl

March 17 2009, 15:42:48 UTC 12 years ago

Oh, this is so gorgeously true. (As I slowly read through the rich backlog...)

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