Poets Wear Prada | PWP Books: birthdays

Showing posts with label birthdays. Show all posts

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Recalling Einstein: Headbanger by Jack Cooper


Detail of "Vanitas," Adriaan Coorte, 1688, Zeeuws Museum, Middelburg, Netherlands, photographed 30 June 2009, 14:19 by zullie [Source: Wiki Loves Art / NL project]

HEADBANGER
by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

Closer to a precipice, I shrink: indifferent to salvation, pray

for calm, control -- pity, less purpose; plead award of concentration,

allowed reserve -- allowed, of course, being false: deniable reward,

testing ice where firm decision

by itself must grant the go-ahead.

God does not play dice, Einstein says,
with this universe, nor any other --

neither ought I: its least

affiliate of empty space.

But act, instead, as I shall attend:
in fullness of self-contempt,

like a cistern; brim pride, shame,
excessive rage, yet exceed -- not enough;

hand raised, in arrest of hopeful despair,
mutter "too much," fallen far and far:

leave now only to crawl no farther on land, capable of pitching headlong.

John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper, poet, fiction writer and translator, is production editor and co-publisher at Poets Wear Prada. His micro-chap Ten, preview of his forthcoming Aphorithms, was released in 2012. His blog, These are Aphorithms, can be found at http://aphorithms.blogspot.com.

"The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret

of the 'old one.' I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice."

-- Albert Einstein

One hundred and thirty-four years ago, today, Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879.

Another Poem for Albert Einstein: Timely by Mary Orovan

In this 1931 photo, physicist Albert Einstein is shown writing out an equation for the density of the Milky Way. Einstein revolutionized physics, starting with a series of papers in 1905, and became a cultural icon as well.

TIMELY
by Mary Orovan

Let me buy some time, said

the rich man,

I now buy someone to smooth

every minute of what

I have. But time looms large,

inexorably forward.

I can crush it, said the witch

on her sonic broom.

Not fast enough—I'll take you

there, said light,

if you observe at my speed

I can make time

stand still—that's what you folks

call paradise.

But I want to zag to the past,

embellish memories, laser on the hill

of daisies where we first lay;

zig to tomorrow

a dimension changing everything.

Heaven is now; breathe &

be—shining with photons, transparent

as good air joy
the pure silence of not even ticking.

This poetry selection by Mary Orovan is from her chapbook, Green Rain, published by Poets Wear Prada in 2008.

March 14: Celebrating Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein
March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955

March 14, 2013 -- Theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein, best known for his mass-energy equivalence formula, E = mc² -- probably the world's most famous equation -- was born one hundred and thirty-four years ago today. Einstein is also recognized as the developer of the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics (alongside quantum mechanics). In 1921, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect," the latter pivotal in establishing quantum theory. In 1999, forty-four years after his death, leading physicists voted Einstein the "greatest physicist ever."

This popular photo of the physicist was taken on Einstein's 72nd birthday on March 14, 1951. UPI photographer Arthur Sasse was trying to persuade Einstein to smile for the camera, but having smiled for photographers many times that day, Einstein stuck out his tongue instead. Einstein requested nine copies for personal use, one of which he signed for a reporter. On June 19, 2009, the original signed photograph was sold at auction for whopping $74,324, a record for an Einstein picture.

[Source: Wikipedia]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PROFESSOR!

PUZZLE
by Austin Alexis

When Albert Einstein stuck his tongue out

for the camera

was it clean?

And if he didn’t care,

why not?

What equation was he mucking-up,

what Inca cord math was he unknotting,

or what graph was he scribbling upon

by defiantly not washing his mouth?

What proof

was he trying to prove?

Did he always have a pronouncement?

Was he saying

with his lips gaping

like a Rocky Mountain cave

that the mysteries of X,

the nagging questions of existence

are too profound

for seriousness?

This poetry selection is from Austin Alexis's book, For Lincoln & Other Poems, published by Poets Wear Prada in 2010.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

March 2: An Aeronaut's Birthday and a Poem

Henry Tracey Coxwell
March 2, 1819 - January 5, 1900

March 2, 2013 -- Today is the 194th anniversary of English Aeronaut Henrt Tracey Coxwell's birthday. Fascinated by ballooning from childhood, the son of a naval officer and a dentist by profession, Coxwell made his first ascent in 1844 at the age of 25. He became a profession aeronaut 4 years later, by 1861 made over 600 ascents, and eventually established his own balloon factory. In 1862 with Dr. James Glaisher, he attained the record height of about 39,000 ft. His partner, Glaisher, lost consciousness during the ascent, and Coxwell, unable to use frostbitten hands, opened the gas valve with his teeth, to allow their rapid but safe descent. [Source: Wikipedia]

Balloons and Mountains

by Erik La Prade

Mother, the view from your hospital

Window is dangerous — high and steep —

With no visible places to grab:

Neither to ascend nor descend.

Your fingers and toes are red-blue

Like the final stages of frostbite that

Climbers on Mt. Everest suffer from.

With the invention of the hot air balloon,

It became possible to ascend to great heights,

Rapidly, without physical exertion.

You have chemicals and machines to help

You survive under your white sheet tent:

Seven bags, suspended by wire rods,

Continuously emptying their contents

Into your body.

The meteorologists Coxwell and Glaisher

Ascended 29,000 feet in a balloon to

Obtain samples of the air for analysis.

Both were overcome. Coxwell, after

Temporarily losing the use of his limbs,

Was able to use his teeth to pull the cord

That released some hydrogen from the balloon

And brought them down safely.

The nurse checks your numbers

As the air is pumped into your lungs at

An even rate. She tells me these

Are the best blood gas results, so far.

This poetry selection is from La Prade's Movie Logic (Poets Wear Prada, 2013).

MOVIE LOGIC:Poems
by Erik La Prade
ISBN 978-0615761237
Soft Cover, Perfect Bound 36pp.
$12.00
Release Date: February 2013

"cinematic verse celebration of urbanity and human tenderness ... life freeze-framed into mise-en-scènes of hilarity and heartbreak"
-- ALAN KAUFMAN, author of Drunken Angel

Buy at Amazon.com: http://amzn.com/0615761232

& from CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4146252/