Stuff and Nonsense

A universe that's saddle shaped
in three-dimensioned space,
Is unimaginably draped
in four-dimensioned case.

A magnet steals a needle from
the feeble grip of Earth,
The photon force with much aplomb
accentuates its worth.

Expanding spacetime's relative
but nothing's at the brink,
To spacetime it's indicative
that things within it shrink.

The quasicrystal calls for more
dimensions than just three,
Essentially to underscore
Its perfect symmetry.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Earth and Moon

When Hadean Earth was magma sea, an impact cleaved the Moon,
And eons since and eons hence, they dance in close commune.
The Earth has flourished under axis stabilizing boon,
The Moon's white face records a cannonade in craters strewn.

The Moon held tight and flooded night with light upon its birth,
Yet every year it draws away, the smallest finger's worth.
The Sun's and Moon's diameters and distance from the Earth,
Now perfectly in ratio, comparing length to girth.

The Moon appears the equal of the Sun in full eclipse,
The golden spray or ring it wears depending on ellipse.
Yet over time the Moon will fade and dwindle as it slips,
Beyond the weary, failing grip of Earth's fond fingertips.

poem by Diane Hine
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The Good Ship Benevolent

Fomenting a fervor and stirring the bones
Ensnaring the sirens with songs from his lips
In voice of contralto or bass baritone
The dashing corsair in splendiferous ship.

A weathered and feathered, half woman half bird
Chimera admired his masterly spark
And breadth of his vision the first time she heard
The quick-witted salt in his broad-bottomed barque.

So lashing her limbs to the limb of a tree
To steady herself from the force of his throat
She listened with mixture of shock, awe and glee
To talented tar in his seaworthy boat.

Then plucking a shellfish she flew to a tor
And wielding a talon, proceeded to shuck it
One beady red eye on his exploits galore
The bold buccaneer in his barnacled bucket.

poem by Diane Hine
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No Elegy For Plaster Teeth (Part 1)

Bony greying woman in a plaster-spattered coat
Mixes stuff of which they're formed with mind afar-remote
Pours the moulds, prepares their beds in fluffy little piles
Therapists in pastel scrubs fly in and out with smiles.

Schooled to their desired shape in template alginate
Mallow soft to nougat hard, delivered, lives oblate
White or pink, uniquely formed with pegs arrayed askew
Four-percent neanderthal effects are coming through.

'Dog ate the retainer' states a form and gives her pause
One way or another pesky canines are her cause
Trims and shapes didactically, prepares them for the fray
Pristine 'fore the onslaught, knows they'll barely last a day.

(Note; refers to the models on which dental appliances are built)

poem by Diane Hine
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Give and Take

The lion finds his stare unnerving,
double pairs of tusks upcurving,
lowers razor honed by uppers' rub.
Warthog's charge is bold, unswerving,
lion favours skin conserving,
prudently conceding to the snub.

The lioness inspects a furrow,
sniffs abandoned aardvark burrow.
Patiently, she digs towards the hub.
Gently plucks the squealing farrow,
warthog piglets, soft bone marrow,
playthings given live, to please her cubs.

The lion saved from warthog scarring,
topples king of pride in sparring.
Murders rival's cubs in buchu scrub.
Rain applauds with thunder jarring.
Warthogs root for food not barring
scattered shreds of cub in gummy mud.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Death

Hunting gent lays broken, gasping,
thrown from horse at bramble hedgerow.
Grinning fox appears at last
to whisper 'tally-ho'!

Hiker with binoculars is
mesmerized by bird call echoes.
Unaware, she meets a bear
and bird sings 'Cheerio'!

Rimy limey falls from rigging,
passing mermaid hums calypso.
Partnering his drowning jig,
she murmurs 'Yo ho ho'.

Thief lies, pumping blood and dying,
stabbed by shard from jeweler's window.
Friendly copper chances by,
'hello, ‘ello, ‘ello'

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poem by Diane Hine
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Ceasefire

Believers, stoked by a thirst-quenching fire
scale mountains with hope-braided rope.
Atheists, being damper and drier
tackle gentler slopes of Mope and Cope.

Some ride a pendulum high, to inspire
music and art beyond mortal scope.
Others, content in a logical mire
wash layers of mud with plain soap.

Unflinching believers aspire, won't tire
aligned by an inner gyroscope.
Less particular atheists acquire
bits, here and there in a whimsical grope.

Once, creation myths were shaped by desire
like a slow turning kaleidoscope.
Advent of printing fixed faith to require
no deviation from dogma's tightrope.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Bold

Prior to Seventeen seventy-one,
Law forbade any newspaper relate
lively words spoken in earnest or jest
in British parliamentary debate.

An editor charged with a printing offense
was judged by the Mayor, who radically took
a supportive stand in the man's defense
and let him off the hook.

Brass Crosby, the Mayor, was condemned by the House
to the Tower of London's grim space,
but the people's ire could scarce be contained
and several judges refused to hear the case.

Ever since Seventeen seventy-one
the Press have been free to print every day,
but ironically, now that they've won,
the members find nothing incisive to say.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Redgate Beach (A Villanelle)

Between opposed currents, it's easy to slip,
though a safety sign stands at Redgate Beach.
I pay no heed and swim into a rip.

Hooded plovers skip the sea's frothy lip,
which lisps an ebullient welcoming speech.
Between opposed currents, it's easy to slip.

A sand-laden gust flays shins like a whip.
A seagull forewarns with a wind-tossed screech.
I pay no heed and swim into a rip.

Effervescence spills as blue waves unzip.
Broken shells in tide swept scallops gleam peach.
Between opposed currents, it's easy to slip.

In lime-weeded rock pools, olive crabs nip.
Against Isaac's Rock, great rollers full breach.
I pay no heed and swim into a rip.

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poem by Diane Hine
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Confession of Obsession

A new word entertained my hearing
which was geoengineering,
and just exact as I was fearing
I counted fourteen letters.

No sooner had I set upon it
I knew I had to make a sonnet,
a ponderous acrostic misfit
I'm chained by mindset fetters.

GEOENGINEERING
G lobal warming plows on full steam ahead
E ven new bearings won't alter her course
O nce, had a chance if we'd stoppered the source
E missions of CO2 climbed instead.
N ow mitigation alone can't be pled
G iven positive feedback counterforce
I ce is a shrinking albedo resource
N o match for oceans' absorbing dark spread.
E nter the geoengineering fix

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poem by Diane Hine
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