Saturday 18 April 2009

Gregor Mendel and the seeds of genetics

The garden where the monk Gregor Mendel (1822-84) grew the famous hybrid peas that led to the discovery of genetics is somewhere in the hazy distance looking from the path that runs below the ramparts of Spilberk Castle in the Czech city of Brno.

Gregor Mendel and the seeds of genetics
- A View from Spilberk

this vantage point
under Spilberk's tall ramparts
is a catalogue of noise
in the punctuated haze
of Brno's blinding reflections

catabolism of siren
catatonia of tram rattle
squeals of iron wheels
on glinting rails
punctuating the cataract
of traffic drone

until the unseen youth on
his cheap Czech motorbike
going around and around
in senseless circles
in the inner-city
- takes over the job

witness the sound
of revolution today

it is once again
at its greatest
by the monastery garden

_______
gw 2009

2 comments:

  1. Guess it would be pretty peaceful there is his day - I often wonder what these people would think if they saw our world today - but then I suppose we can also think into the future and surmise what it might be like. Glad we don't live for ever. I expect Mendel and other scientists (in the loosest form) would all me fascinated at the enormous strides forward we have made.

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  2. I suppose in Brno there would be the shouts of street vendors and the church bells the clip-clop of horses, many troops coming and going - don't forget Napoleon at nearby Austerlitz for example. Of course, nothing compared to today where the noise wells up the castle from the town below with its Tesco Supertsore, Inter-City trains, tourists, and all the usual bedlam of a growing city.

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