nothing

[cosmolinguist]

(an LJ Idol entry)

The magician has
nothing
up his sleeves. The politican, regretfully, has
no scope for increase
in social welfare spending. There's
no food in this house,
whines the teenager, bored with
an array of modern convenience and process-
ed foods.
I loved you for years and I
didn't even get this lousy t-shirt.

Science tells me nothing
is woven into the fabric
of our inescapable universe. Before the big bang,
and after the last black hole evaporates, there is
a lack so complete and thorough
we have never needed a word for it.

But science is no excuse for heartless
politicians, ungrateful
teenagers, magicians
who wouldn't know magic if it bit them in the eye
or you.

Comments

[cosmolinguist]

Andrew told me this is "a sad poem." Certainly not!

[bethanthepurple.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. Like!

[basric.livejournal.com]

It's a depressingly sad poem because its real.

[cosmolinguist]

I don't really think it is though. I've met teenagers kinder than I'll ever be, and politicans who actually are trying to make things better. I think life is precious and the universe is amazing.

You can tell the stuff I write when I've got a headache :) It always makes me cranky.

[cosmolinguist]

That's especially good to hear this week :) Thank you.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

I really like this piece - especially the bit about the t-shirt. Your voice is very strong here.

Why the hyphen and line split in "processed"? It's clear it's deliberate, and I'm missing why, and I'd love to know!

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

gets my vote!

[goodqueenmolly.livejournal.com]

"I loved you for years and I
didn't even get this lousy t-shirt"

Wonderful.

[nodressrehersal.livejournal.com]

A very interesting and unique approach this week.

No title

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[pixiebelle.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I like how you defend the poem against people saying it's sad. I liked your argument here a lot.

Nicely done all around :)

[cosmolinguist]

When I write poetry I'm a lot more distant than when I'm writing prose. Perhaps because I find fiction very difficult the vast majority of what I write is more or less about me, and the poetry is always a bit more The Authorial Voice, a character I'm playing, so it's more likely to say stuff I don't really think.

...if that makes any sense.

I'm glad you liked it! Thanks.

[cosmolinguist]

Oh good! I'm worried a bit, this week :) Thanks so much.

[cosmolinguist]

I'm afraid it's a bit "courageous"* but oh well, it's done now :) Thanks.

* Taken from the British political comedy Yes Minister, where an advisor will call the minister's decision "courageous" if it's a really bad idea.

[cosmolinguist]

It's a fairly arcane (or subdued, or nonexistent, whatever degree of obfuscation you'd like to ascribe to it :) ) reason, that I think was clearer in the first draft, but I was thinking about "convenience and process" as a phrase separate from the convenience food and processed food I was alluding to. The magic trick is a process, politics is all procedural, and the aging of the universe is a combination of all the physical processes... so this was important in helping me identify the examples of nothingness I assembled here.

[noodledays.livejournal.com]

really great metaphors and language here. :)

[blythe025.livejournal.com]

Very well written! I like how you used the line breaks to effective and powerful effect.

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

Haha, I often have that feeling when I submit Idol entries! I don't think it's justified in your case, though ;D

[cosmolinguist]

That's lovely to hear :) I worked hard on them. Thank you!

[cosmolinguist]

They're sometimes a weakness of my poetry so it's really good to see that someone thinks I did them well here! Thanks :)

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

I like that! I'm a big fan of double meanings, and I appreciate you unpacking this one for me :)

[cosmolinguist]

I appreciate your interest :)

[cosmolinguist]

Thanks, that's very kind of you to say :)

[myrna-bird.livejournal.com]

I am enjoying the increase of poetry entries this season.

I really like this one.
It makes me realize how little we really do know.

[cosmolinguist]

I'm not usually a poetry kind of person. But it was all I could think of this week, that second bit, and then I wrote the rest around it.

I'm glad you liked it!

[genesisdesire.livejournal.com]

There lies no fault to be found in any bit of this poem. The cadence carries me through, the line breaks form phrases and visual cues that are dynamic, and the emotional content stays strong without getting bitter or cranky.

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

That was my favourite part too.

[cosmolinguist]

Such effusive praise! ::blushes:: Thank you so much.

[dblicher.livejournal.com]

"I loved you for years and I didn't even get this lousy tee-shirt." Great line. I like this use of the prompt.

*HEY*!

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

I am *NOT* heartless! You may have nailed the other bozos, but don't count *ME* among their number. Hell, if anything, I'm guilty of caring too Ghod-dammed much for my fellow beings.

Not to mention that the "nothing" that makes up our universe is a whole lot more complicated than you might think. Hell, there's plenty of evidence that our universe is *NOT* "inescapable" -- we just haven't figured out how to open the door... yet.

But other than those quibbles... I *LIKE* this piece. Nicely done.

[cosmolinguist]

Thank you. Science is always what I think of in relation to the concept of nothingness :)

[cosmolinguist]

I'm not counting all politicians among that number (though I do think lining the pockets of rich people while cutting social welfare programs is a heartless thing to do). Just as I don't think all teenagers are ungrateful of the food in their house -- like you, I have a surplus of empathy (and only thought there was no food in the house because I liked things so different from what my mom bought).

And I certainly don't believe the universe is uncomplicated, nor that it is made up of nothing, just that nothing is always a part of it -- atoms are mostly empty space; apparently all the actual matter in all humans would fit in the space of a sugar cube.

I included the word "inescapable" because I liked how it contributed to the claustrophobic tone of the poem (wherever you look, on every scale from the personal to the universal, there's something missing; I think "no scope for increase" is the best articulation of this concept in the poem) but also, I am intrigued as to what you think constitutes this escape from the universe that you mention (I suppose it depends on how one defines "universe" too...). And, to some extent, how useful it is if we can't open the door; we consider some prisons inescapable but only from the perspective of the imprisoned, not those with the keys.

I was surprised and delighted to read after all this that you liked what I wrote. Thanks!

[cosmolinguist]

Here I was thinking of "Antigonish": "Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today..." Some material things remind me of things I'd rather forget, but sometimes it's the lack of the material thing that reminds me...

LJ Idol Posts of Note for Week Seven

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[ellakite.livejournal.com]

To a degree, I was just "messin' with you" -- I knew that your poem was directed towards those soulless individuals who have no clue what a conscience is, and do whatever they think will be to their advantage without a single though regarding the consequences.

OTOH -- Perhaps you didn't have time to read my post this past week, or perhaps you just don't remember it... but my most recent piece was about how wondrous even the "nothing" that makes up most of our universe actually is. If you can spare a few minutes to read it, you can find it here (http://ellakite.livejournal.com/307743.html). I hope you enjoy it.

[cosmolinguist]

I think there has only been one week where I didn't find time to read all the entries. I did indeed read yours, though after I wrote this comment (I actually looked in there for anything about the door though which we can escape this universe. Didn't really see that, but it was a nice rendition of some of my favoite stories; astronomy and cosmology have always been as soothing as lullabies to me.

I didn't mention it in my piece this week...

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

... but there is a theory that the ultimate source of virtual particles is outside our universe -- that the reason why these particles appear to come from nothing and go back to nothing is because they are in the process of passing through our universe.

So... if these things are able to enter and exist our universe at will, so to speak, perhaps someday we can figure out how they do this... and replicate the process.

So like I said: We may have found the doorway out; we just don't know how to open it yet.

And even though I didn't mention the potential of a "doorway out" in my piece, I think you will agree that it does depict "nothing" as wondrous. That was the point I was really trying to make. But like I said: virtual particles could get us to other universes someday...

Thanks for reading my piece again.

[karmasoup.livejournal.com]

Ouch, what did I ever do to you? *sniff!* Okay, okay... BESIDES that! ;)