Science-Poetry

Who is science for ? (An Acrostic of implicit and explicit meaning in the art of communicating science )

By: Jake Johnson (School of Physics and Astronomy) Competition Year: 2017 Votes (2) | Comments (1)

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Say, Scientist, do tell! Why, when not grey, is the sky so blue ?

Can you inform a humble layman on the nature of this hue ?

I can explain exactly why, lend your ear, lend it bare…

Electromagnetic waves induce dipoles in the air,

Naturally this scattering favours light of lower length,

Consequently, less red than blue by a factor of a tenth.

Exacerbated, grimace thinning across his lay-face, his lay-gaze meets his shoes.

In depth you have explained, scientist, ere my understanding compromised.

Sorrow ! Shame on me, lay-friend, now hear this clear reprise…

Far away in space is a ball of fire – sunshine, bright,

Orange, proud, our dancing partner lavishes us with light,

Rearing towards our planet Earth cruising faster than a blink,

All until the air is reached on horizon’s brink,

Little red is left and blue bereft trundles to our gaze,

Layman, friend, I dearly hope in sky’s no longer haze.

Naive stays the layman, as the order of science is lost in the poetic entropy of her words.

Oh, Scientist! What a lovely image, but of all science devoid.

Then let me try one last time, with all faculties deployed…

The scientist explains at last and the not-so-layman gets the story,

Here clear as day, the lightbulb moment, deconvoluted, glory,

Every person, lay or nay, has the right to understand,

Fulfilled in beauty is the truth, when passed from hand to hand,

Endless meaning to be sought, acrostics hidden in the hue,

When the clouds are lifted, is when the sky is blue.



Science is for all, not the few.