Electrons by Ruth Madievsky

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend September 23, 2016   Electrons   Ruth Madievsky

The eye chews the apple, sends the brain an image of the un-apple. Which is similar to the way I throw my voice like a Frisbee, like salt over a shoulder, a birthday party where someone’s brother is grilling hot dogs, a little speed in his blood, some red balloons. The eye is the most deceptive organ in the body. Followed closely by the hand, which refuses to accept that touch comes down to the repulsion of electrons, so that when I hold the hand of the person I love, mostly I am pushing him away. Which has something to do with the striking resemblance between a bag of individually wrapped candies and the human heart. The sticky glass of their shattering. How love can crack like a tooth kissing a sidewalk, the way right now someone’s car leapfrogs a sidewalk, her body making love to the windshield and becoming the windshield. And still the fireflies glow with their particular sorrow. The police tape separating the mind from everything that is not the mind proves imaginary. My eyes find the face of the person I love and pull out their fork and knife.            Copyright © 2016 Ruth Madievsky. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “I’ve been thinking about things that are both themselves and their opposites. ‘Electrons’ is part of a manuscript that negotiates this tension, how sometimes the more closely you observe something, the less you understand it. That concept applies literally to the electron, whose location is impossible to measure without disturbing it.” —Ruth Madievsky   Ruth Madievsky is the author of Emergency Brake (Tavern Books, 2016). She is a Doctor of Pharmacy student at the University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles, California. Poetry by Madievsky   Emergency Brake (Tavern Books, 2016)  "The Path" by Emily Fragos "Entanglement" by Jane Hirshfield "Evolution" by Linda Bierds Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038