An atom’s 99.9%
nothing at all. The world’s an empty place.
Its solid shapes are objects we invent
to give a form to nuclei and space.
But these constructions aren’t exactly fake”
it hurts when, as a test, we kick a stone;
electrons charge across the void and make
illusions hard enough to break a bone.
Outside the window, photons waver, glow,
collapsing to what matters here: your bright
blue scarf, dark hair; a body that I know
is not a trick of late November light.
You and I”more than a thought, thin air”
unique arrangements of what isn’t there.
In Praise of Translation
This essay was delivered as the 38th Annual Erasmus Lecture. The circumstances of my life have been…
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Nicolas Poussin, the greatest French artist of the seventeenth century, once said that Caravaggio had come into…
Canticle of All Creatures
This poem was written by St. Francis of Assisi, and translated by Dana Gioia. Most high, all…