Science Poems for January 2011: 27

Last April I posted a science sonnet a day in celebration of National Poetry Month (index with links here). This month I am posting a science poem a day, written in various traditional forms, in honor of Science Online 2011.

The "fifth annual international meeting on Science and the Web" ran from Jan. 13-16. Click on the logo below to access the conference page, which has links to posts, tweets, photos, and videos from the event.



As with the sonnets, my January poems take their cues from science-based articles. I also have two works in a special science poem section (vol. 33 #5/6) of Star*Line, journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. You can read my "Ciliate Sestina" here.

Also, two sonnets from last April's collection, "In Development" and "Manipulations," have made it into Open Laboratory 2010. Click on the badge below for links to the 50 essays, 6 poems, and 1 cartoon in the collection.


(Click here to see Andrea Kuszewski's gorgeous cover!)

Today's poem takes its cue from "Success! Why Expectations Beat Fantasies" (Jeremy Dean, PsyBlog, Jan. 20, 2011). Click on the article link to learn more about the research. To learn more about the traditional poetic structure used, click on the form name.

The High Road
(Form: Vietnamese Luc Bat)

I fantasized a road.
I built it. Nothing goaded me.
Only my thoughts ran free.
And in my head I see it clear,
Although it is not here.
But expectations steer me now.
And I must plan and plow
And figure out just how to build
To make my goal fulfilled.
Although I have not stilled my dream,
True expectations seem
To trump fantasy's gleam. Instead,
My real work lies ahead
(Even setbacks, I dread!) -- to drive
My effort, and derive
Accomplishment, not jive. And so,
To build that road, I know
If I expect to go and do,
My efforts will ring true,
More than the dreamy view I've won.
My will by action done:
Positive thinking's honest code.

Elissa Malcohn's Deviations and Other Journeys Promote Your Page Too


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