Thursday, March 20, 2014

Newton's Law





Newton had calculated the motions of bodies,
but how human bodies move isn’t entirely clear.

My body had come to rest at the light
and according to Newton’s laws,
pretty much stayed at rest.
The light at 6th and Mass is long.

The bodies of a boy and girl,
approaching the age of maturity,
came up to the opposite and equal corner.
Their bodies did not come to rest.
The male form was somewhat more stationary,
though spinning on its axis,
arms regularly extending
from their expected positions at his side.

The girl never ceased her motion –
she danced, she spun,
from this side, then to the other.
From my vantage, I could not see
what might have propelled her 360 degree
dipsy doodles. And yet
the pair of bodies nearly always faced each other.

To say, from my corner of the universe,
that these observed motions
and uncounted more
could be mapped or any result
predicted is, I presume,
beyond Mr. Newton’s capability.

And then the light changed.

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