Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg
Principles of Entropy
I
press your ear against
the Egyptian cotton sheet
you will hear the universe
gravitating towards expansion
each of the thousand threads
straining against this
forced dissipation
let your head lay across
your lover’s chest
the universe will pull him away
in its own time
II
each cell of the body
is Schrödinger’s cat
unaware of its fate
they crowd against each other
as bodies in rush hour subways
hot and tired and anxious
III
five trillion atoms
could fit on the head of a pin
so I take a small knife
and divide my heart
into as many pieces
to refit into a newer
smaller space
IV
it is
impossible
to determine
simultaneously both
position
and movement
with certainty
not the waves of the ocean but the waves of space
not suitable for drowning but for carrying
into the flat velvet black
you are crushed and each part of your body touches the other
toes against elbows back against knees
V
the bird pecks his beak
against
the flat velvet black
mistakes it
for a sheet of seeds
particles fall
unaware
of wind
stripping them
still
bit
by
bit
into
essentiality and
insignificance
VI
keep a record
of the swings of a pendulum
the timing of each swoosh
will decide everything
future is determined
by hands that reach
between each tick
reach the wrong time
and they return empty
thirty two million swings too late
_______________
Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg is a Toronto-born, London-based writer and film journalist. She is writing her PhD on the contemporary Spanish fantastic film. Her work is published in literary journals such as Taddle Creek and Potterfield Portfolio, and recent anthologies Catechism: Poems for Pussy Riot and Drifting Down the Lane.
Image Credit: Exhibition notice: “Forgetting the Future Entropy in the Reflective Age” (The Torrance Art Museum), curated by Lisa DeSmidt.
