Tuesday 14 December 2010

The Conjurer

The Conjurer
.
with the hundred hats
takes the table and the stage
away
into the spotlight's glare
and leaves
only these behind:
the ribbons he uncurled like clouds
the handkerchiefs tied up in knots
the pink-eared snowy rabbit
the flying rat that couldn't fly
and you and I.
Beware the fakes he begged
but we knew better
didn't we? oh, but yes we did
And now we'll never see the ninety-six
.
______
gw2010
Those who are in the know are agreed that 96% of the universe is dark matter - in other words those in the know now know they can only know 4% for now. Only the conjurer knows 100%. And he's not for telling.

11 comments:

  1. "The Conjurer" has evoked from me this quote from Byron's "The Dream":

    The mind can people planets of its own, and give breath to forms which can outlive all flesh.


    OWL

    ReplyDelete
  2. "and you and I" - a very clever touch!

    A loopy thought off the top of my sleepy head (I woke early - it's 5:41am). Two things we don't fully understand: dark matter and the nature of consciousness. Is there something in this? Perhaps we are the 96%. ?!:)

    (Have I just invented a new emoticon?)

    Since we only get 4% in the exam of life we'll probably never know. Or will we?

    ReplyDelete
  3. John, thank you

    OWL,
    The Byron you quote is certainly apposite. When I came to write this poem I was thinking vaguely of Stevens as I had been reading about him on George Szirtes' blog. Maybe in the back of my mind was the idea that "I was the world in which I walked, and what I saw / Or heard or felt came not but from myself; / And there I found myself more truly and more strange" (Tea at the Palaz of Hoon) as if to say that each is his own audience and his own conjurer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dominic,
    I woke at 6:30am but I'm an hour to the east of you. Approx 20 cms of new snow had fallen in the night. And now, 9:06 it is still snowing.
    The footprints in the snow. How long do they last. Forever somewhere?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Works so well on different levels, Gwilym.

    ReplyDelete
  6. And how do they know no two snowflakes are the same when some melt before others are formed?

    I googled this and found...

    http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/alike/alike.htm

    ReplyDelete
  7. I looked and I'm convinced there will never be another Dominic Rivron :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. ha ha! :)

    Have you been to Planet Hunters?

    You get this great feeling that when you click your mouse you might have discovered aliens...

    http://www.planethunters.org/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dominic,
    Unfortunately www.planethunters.org doesn't work on my system but 'they' are working on it for 2011 says the advisory. I'll have to be patient :)

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.