Developmental Ecophysiology
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Poetry


"Let us then be up and doing with a heart for any fate, still achieving, still pursuing learn to labor and to wait." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poetry moves me. I love words and find it amazing how a series of strung vowels and consonants can grip the heart and cut to the quick of a person. My own attempts at poetry typically revolve around a nostalgic journey into the natural world. I am amazed at how much our planet has changed since my good buddy Longfellow was penning what I feel is the best of all American Romanticism. How much more will it change by the time I'm long gone? I also am quite interested in how science and art fit so intricately together. Many of my poems deal with the complex relationship that exists between the greater pieces of humanity: the physical and metaphysical. I feel that a person can only be a great artist if they obey certain laws of the natural world, and reciprocally that no one can dare to do good science without a certain degree of creativity. I have been greatly criticized for this idea by many of my "poetic peers", but I still believe it holds true in the greater scheme of things. I have a few examples of my poetry that are somewhat representative of my subject and style.

Aeronautics (for my grandfather)

Acanthium

Lament from a Window on Caldwell

Crossing at Harper's Ferry

Hayflick

Sipaliwini


 


“If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture—that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves.” ― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire