Tiny Sand Frogs

Turning over
a canoe on the beach

I discover
    reveal

a multitude
of tiny sand frogs,
(five could fit on my pinky)

tiny sand frogs,
descendants
of the glorious stars,
constructions
of tinier atoms

tiny sand frogs
leap about
in a tiny horde
after I turn over
a canoe
on the beach


-Jim DuBois
July 15, 2012

Looking Up at the Stars

Looking up
at the stars,
I say hello
to the photon
that traveled
all the way here
across the vast galaxy,
and
  "boink"
hit my eye.


-Jim DuBois
July 15, 2012

Romance/Science

How do you cross that line
between talking
and dating?

I want to compare it to
crossing the event horizon
of a black hole.

You might not notice as you cross
but you are on your inevitable way
to that intense and singular point

And no information
can return to the outside world
to let anyone know how it finally happened.

On the other hand,

I want to put romance
into a high-powered particle accelerator
and smash it to it's elemental bits

So we can make lists
that say things like,
"romance always has at least 130 billion quarks."

Then we won't have to
ponder the mystery any longer.
Instead, if things aren't happening,

You can study the lists
and say,
"more quarks, my friend, more quarks!"



-Jim DuBois
May 22, 2011

__ of __

Son of
    improbably intelligent primates

Offspring of
    supernovas of primordial stars

Descendent of
    quantum fluctuations in the early universe


-Jim DuBois
May 9, 2011

Long Dream of the Stars

...like galactic sentinels
...like guideposts
...like will-o-the-wisps
    of the deep vast cold

...like angry protesters
    of the darkness
...like fiery anchors
    dropped into space
...like mitochondria
    of an emerging super-being


-Jim
Jan 31, 2011

Quark Dreams

I had this dream
that I was explaining to Robby
that when electrons jump from state to state,
they sometimes emit photons.

I woke up
and thought about
that living beings
are made of the same stuff,
like electrons and protons,
as other matter,
and that
all those weird quantum things
apply to the underpinnings
of our own selves.

Do we emit photons
every once in an improbable while?
do our protons ever decay?
do we have junk DNA and multiple back up RNA
to compensate for quantum randomness
that might disturb our
cellular reproduction?

I pictured us
as glowing collections
of subatomic particles,
heat, trapped and controlled
by elaborate methods,
like neurons and DNA.



-Jim DuBois
August 19, 2010

Lame Little Bird

Lame little bird,
leg stuck out sideways,
dragging across the ground,
hopping around like everything is normal,
you are made of
Quarks and Protons, too!


-Jim DuBois
August 19, 2010

Fragments

Broken and re-formed
Like dna or atomic nuclei
Or life and death of stars


-Jim DuBois

Genetic Astrology - video

I already published the text of this poem here, but now there's a video of me reading it.

-Jim DuBois

Bone Memory Poet *

Bone Memory Poet
dwelling in the
blood marrow caves
telling the ancient stories
of the genetic ancestors,
the primates of days past.

These bones,
these caves,
were grown
so long ago
no one really remembers
but everyone knows
they go further back
than some find comfortable,
to rodents and bacteria,
mud and rocks,
strands of protein
from unknown shores
off the planet.

Bone memory leads us back
to the calcification
of our own skulls,
to the womb,
to the very first vertebra,
back further
to Africa
via our individual paths,
to tiny mammals,
an ice age
and the extinction
of the dinosaurs.

Speak, bone memory,
speak, bone memory,
speak!

Remind us of our
elemental nature,
of calcium and iron,
of our siblinghood
with water
and oxygen,
of our ability
to generate
electrical pulses
and create chemicals.

You've seen
all these things
and encoded them
in mysterious genetic runes
and protein alphabets.

Bone Memory Poet,
reminding us
of our foundations,
of our inner structure,
reminding us
that below
the cleverness and cognition
we are physical entities,
forces of nature.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 6, 2010

* title line from a friend of a friend

Ordinary Days on Planet Earth

The light from the sun
travels to earth every day,
soaks into the ground,
        the dirt,
        the water,
        the rocks,

and the plants burst upwards
in a multitude of colors

and the animals grow
and change
and evolve,
wandering over the land
and in the sea

and the people
are simply starlight
with brains and hands

they create marvelous art and music

they solve incredible problems
with knowledge, ingenuity
and vast imaginations

they invent technology
to communicate with each other
and transform the lives
of billions

and though they
don't always know it,
they are
        striving striving striving
to be good,
and kind
to one another.


-Jim DuBois
Aug 11, 2009

Genetic Astrology

They say
your destiny
has been written

in the stars
of your genetic make-up.

You can only be
so smart
so inventive
so analytical
you know.

Your mind
has been made up
for you,
since you were
born under the
constellation
of the
double helix.

It is a system
that has a place
for all of us,
even those destined
to be toilet cleaners
and idiots –
just remember
never to rise above
your station
or have any ambitions –
you’ll only be
disappointed by
your limitations.

There’s no arguing
with science.

Now go back
to that stupid job
and quit complaining.


-Jim DuBois
Aug 1, 2005

Like a Radio Wave (Sept 2002)

Like a radio wave,
  moving steadily outward
    into the universe

Like a radio wave,
  or an echo,
    or light travelling from distant stars,
      informing viewers of events
        that are already well past
          in history

Like a radio wave,
  having no fixed point,
    only appearing
  to exist
    when there is a radio

Like language,
  encoded and encryted
    meanings –
      meaningless
        without a listener

Like a moment of history,
    or a book,
  sending out ripples of influence
    into the future

Has the moment passed?
    …
  Or just some of it?

Like evolution and procreation,
  providing an unbroken line,
    a varied but cohesive system of life forms

-- One moment,
                many appearances

Just one moment
  without a beginning or end
Just one self-modifying,
  everlasting moment,

Expanding like the universe,
  being picked up once in a while
    by various
      sensors and receptors.

Just a moment of existence,
    like a radio wave,
      moving outward.



-Jim DuBois