Thursday, February 17, 2022

1081. Vegetarian Physics - David Clewell

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The tofu that’s shown up overnight in this house is frightening.

proof of the Law of Conservation: matter that simply cannot be

created or destroyed. Matter older than Newton,

who knew better than to taste it. Older than Lao-tzu,

who thought about it but finally chose harmonious non-interference.

I’d like to be philosophical too, see it as one kind of pale

inscrutable wisdom among the hot dogs, the cold chicken,

the leftover deviled eggs, but I’m talking curled

soybean milk. And I don’t have that kind of energy.


I’d rather not be part of the precariously metaphorical

wedding of modern physics and the ancient Eastern mysteries.

But still: whoever stashed the tofu in my Frigidaire

had better come back for it soon, I’m not Einstein

but I’m smart enough to know a bad idea when I see it

taking up space, biding its time.

Like so much that demands our imperfect attention

amid the particle roar of the world, going nowhere, fast.


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