Verse & Universe: Poems about Science and Mathematics [Paperback]

Kurt Brown (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Measures by Nadya Aisenberg
Sum by Nadya Aisenberg
Cascadilla Falls by Archie Randolph Ammons
Expressions Of Sea Level by Archie Randolph Ammons
Identity by Archie Randolph Ammons
Mechanism by Archie Randolph Ammons
Prodigal by Archie Randolph Ammons
Saliences by Archie Randolph Ammons
On Learning On The Clearest Night Only 6000 Stars Are Visible To The by Antler [pseud.]
The Poet Studies Physics by Carol Jane Bangs
Astrophysicists by Bruce Berger
Murray by Bruce Berger
Stellar Gothic by Bruce Berger
All Together, Nothing Lost by Dinah Berland
Boolean Algebra : X2 = X by William M. Bronk
On Drivers Geometries by William M. Bronk
Isotropic by Christopher Buckley
Speculation In Dark Air by Christopher Buckley
Star Journal by Christopher Buckley
Stars by Ralph Burns
Einstein Thinks About The Daughter He Put Up For Adoption And Then by Jennifer Clement
William Herschel's Sister, Caroline, Discovers Eight Comets by Jennifer Clement
The Heavy Light Of Shifting Stars by Michael Collier
Earthling by Billy Collins
Essay On Intelligence: Five by Alison Hawthorne Deming
Essay On Intelligence: Four by Alison Hawthorne Deming
Essay On Intelligence: One by Alison Hawthorne Deming
Essay On Intelligence: Seven by Alison Hawthorne Deming
Essay On Intelligence: Six by Alison Hawthorne Deming
Essay On Intelligence: Three by Alison Hawthorne Deming
Essay On Intelligence: Two by Alison Hawthorne Deming
Genetic Sequence by Alison Hawthorne Deming
Mt. Lemmon, Steward Observatory, 1990 by Alison Hawthorne Deming
The Woman Painting Crates by Alison Hawthorne Deming
The Anthropic Cosmological Principle by Carl Dennis
Evolution by Carl Dennis
Fractals by Diana Der-hovanessian
Black Holes & Hologramarye: Cosmological Holophrastics by Peter Dillingham
Black Holes & Hologramarye: Epitaph For A Star by Peter Dillingham
Black Holes & Hologramarye: Holo-caustic by Peter Dillingham
Black Holes & Hologramarye: Narcisse And The Black Hole by Peter Dillingham
The Fish In The Stone by Rita Dove
Geometry by Rita Dove
Facing My Amygdala by Denise Duhamel
The Future Of Vaginas And Penises by Denise Duhamel
Notes Of An Alchemist by Loren Eiseley
Sea Lilies by D. A. Feinfeld
Skeleton Key by D. A. Feinfeld
Astronomer by Robert Francis
Comet by Robert Francis
A Fractal Pattern by Robert Frazier
Time And The Hour by Forrest Gander
Farder To Reache by Albert Goldbarth
Reality Organization by Albert Goldbarth
Reality Organization: 2 by Albert Goldbarth
Reality Organization: 3 by Albert Goldbarth
Reality Organization: 4 by Albert Goldbarth
The Sciences Sing A Lullabye by Albert Goldbarth
Tarpan And Aurochs by Albert Goldbarth
Vestigial: Appendix, Coccyx, Pineal Eye by Albert Goldbarth
Vestigial: Big Bang by Albert Goldbarth
Vestigial: The Adventures Of John Dee by Albert Goldbarth
From Sir Francis Bacon's Novum Organum by Jorie Graham
From Sir Francis Bacon's Novum Organum by Jorie Graham
C = The Physics Of Farewell by Alvin David Greenberg
The Dissolution Of The Rainbow by Emily Grosholz
Poems Overheard At A Conference On Relativity Theory: I by Emily Grosholz
Poems Overheard At A Conference On Relativity Theory: Iii by Emily Grosholz
Poems Overheard At A Conference On Relativity Theory: Iv by Emily Grosholz
Poems Overheard At A Conference On Relativity Theory: V by Emily Grosholz
Poems Overheard At A Conference On Relativity Theory: Vi by Emily Grosholz
Poems Overheard At A Conference On Relativity Theory: Vii by Emily Grosholz
Poems Overheard At Conference On Relativity Theory: Ii by Emily Grosholz
Reflections On The Transfinite by Emily Grosholz
Rivers by Emily Grosholz
Earth's Answer by Emily Hiestand
On First Reading Particle Physics by Emily Hiestand
Os by Emily Hiestand
Dark Matter by Brenda Lynn Hillman
Time Problem by Brenda Lynn Hillman
Astrology by Tony Hoagland
Fritz Haber by Roald Hoffmann
Giving In by Roald Hoffmann
Grand Unification by Roald Hoffmann
Jerry-built Forever: 1 by Roald Hoffmann
Jerry-built Forever: 2 by Roald Hoffmann
Jerry-built Forever: 3 by Roald Hoffmann
Jerry-built Forever: 4 by Roald Hoffmann
Jerry-built Forever: 5 by Roald Hoffmann
What We Have Learned About The Pineal by Roald Hoffmann
Who Uses Whom by Roald Hoffmann
After Closing Luigi Cremona's Projective Geometry by Jonathan Holden
The Fall Of Pythagoras by Jonathan Holden
Integrals by Jonathan Holden
Ramanujan by Jonathan Holden
Zeno's Paradox by Jonathan Holden
The Archaeologist's Dream by Martha Hollander
The Pattern by Janet Holmes
Poet To Physicist In His Laboratory by David Ignatow
Neutrinos by Colette Inez
Seven Stages Of Skeletal Decay by Colette Inez
The 9+2 Roseate Anatomy Of Microtubules by Kerry Johanssen
At The Cavendish Laboratory, 1941 by Michael L. Johnson
Fibonacci Time Lines by Michael L. Johnson
Ludwig Boltzmann by Michael L. Johnson
M. C. Escher's Circle Limit Iii by Michael L. Johnson
Roentgen by Michael L. Johnson
Schrodinger's Cat by Michael L. Johnson
Stephen Hawking Oraculates by Michael L. Johnson
Beam 4 by Ronald Johnson
Beam 7 by Ronald Johnson
The Blood by Alice Jones
The Cell by Alice Jones
The Inner Ear by Alice Jones
The Larynx by Alice Jones
The Lungs by Alice Jones
Pure Mathematics by Rodney Jones
Architecture by Nancy Kassell
The Consolations Of Sociobiology by Bill Knott
Neuroanatomy by Susan Kolodny
Still The Same by Rosann Kozlowski
The Limbic System by Thomas Lux
Time by Thomas Lux
Resons For Numbers by Lisel Mueller
Cybernetics by Howard Nemerov
Figures Of Thought by Howard Nemerov
Moment by Howard Nemerov
A Moon Eclipsed by Howard Nemerov
Universe: Alter-egos (a Meditation On Strange Attractors) : Strange At by Renee Olander
Universe: Alter-egos (a Meditation On Strange Attractors): Dreams by Renee Olander
Universe: Alter-egos (a Meditation On Strange Attractors): You by Renee Olander
Universe: Alter-egos 9 A Meditation On Strange Attractors): Shapes And by Renee Olander
Somebody Ought To Write A Poem For Ptolemy by Jacqueline Osherow
The North Star by Sue Ann Owen
Zero by Sue Ann Owen
Copernicus by Benjamin Paloff
Sea Of Negative Charges by Benjamin Paloff
Heavenly Bodies: 1 by Susan Prospere
Heavenly Bodies: 2 by Susan Prospere
Heavenly Bodies: 3 by Susan Prospere
The Astronomer Works Nights: A Parable Of Science by Bin Ramke
The Monkish Mind Of The Speculative Physicist by Bin Ramke
Earth And Diamonds by Carter Revard
This Is Your Geode Talking by Carter Revard
Learning The Planets by Len Roberts
Learning The Stars by Len Roberts
Achieving Perspective by Pattiann Rogers
The Brain Creates Itself by Pattiann Rogers
The Definition Of Time by Pattiann Rogers
Fossil Texts On Canyon Walls: Astrophysical Dynamics by Pattiann Rogers
Fossil Texts On Canyon Walls: This State Of Stone by Pattiann Rogers
Fractal: Repetition Of Form Over A Variety Of Scales by Pattiann Rogers
Good Heavens : I by Pattiann Rogers
Good Heavens: Iii by Pattiann Rogers
Good Heavens: Ii by Pattiann Rogers
Good Heavens: Iv by Pattiann Rogers
Life In An Expanding Universe by Pattiann Rogers
The Origin Of Order by Pattiann Rogers
The Pieces Of Heaven by Pattiann Rogers
The Possible Advantage Of The Expendable Multitudes by Pattiann Rogers
The Rites Of Passage by Pattiann Rogers
The Voice Of Precambrian Sea by Pattiann Rogers
About Time by Alane Rollings
Tomorrow Is A Difficult Idea by Alane Rollings
Amor Fati by Kenneth Rosen
The Mathematician's Disclaimer by Ira Sadoff
Ploughing The Dark by Reg Saner
Vespers by Reg Saner
Something Silver-white by Timothy Seibles
The New Cosmology by Frederick Seidel
An Astronomer's Journal by Jane Shore
Dear Isaac Newton by Charles Simic
Drawing The Triangle by Charles Simic
Ghost Stories Written by Charles Simic
Madonnas Touched Up With A Goatee by Charles Simic
Many Zeros by Charles Simic
Thoughts Near The Close Of Millennium by John Sokol
Looking Up At Night by William Edgar Stafford
On Earth by William Edgar Stafford
What If We Were Alone? by William Edgar Stafford
Computer Map Of The Early Universe by Maura Stanton
Presto! How The Universe Is Made by Stephanie Strickland
New Math by Cole Swensen
Dinosaur National by Karen Swenson
The Leaves Of A Dream Are The Leaves Of An Onion by Arthur Sze
The Leaves Of A Dream Are The Leaves Of An Onion: 1 by Arthur Sze
The Leaves Of A Dream Are The Leaves Of An Onion: 2 by Arthur Sze
The Leaves Of A Dream Are The Leaves Of An Onion: 3 by Arthur Sze
The Leaves Of A Dream Are The Leaves Of An Onion: 5 by Arthur Sze
The Leaves Of A Dream Are The Leaves Of An Onion: 6 by Arthur Sze
The Redshifting Web: 1 by Arthur Sze
The Redshifting Web: 2 by Arthur Sze
The Redshifting Web: 3 by Arthur Sze
The Redshifting Web: 4 by Arthur Sze
The Redshifting Web: 5 by Arthur Sze
The Redshifting Web: 6 by Arthur Sze
The Redshifting Web: 7 by Arthur Sze
The Redshifting Web: 9 by Arthur Sze
The Reshifting Web: 8 by Arthur Sze
Cosmic Gall by John Updike
The God Of Galaxies by Mark Van Doren
He 2-104: A True Planetary Nebula In The Making by Gloria Vando
Chaos Theory: Love's Discrete Nonlinearity by Ronald W. Wallace
Chaos Theory: Sensitive Dependence On Initial Conditions by Ronald W. Wallace
Chaos Theory: Strange Attractors by Ronald W. Wallace
Descent by Charles Harper Webb
Heat Death by Charles Harper Webb
Liver by Charles Harper Webb
Persistence Of Sound by Charles Harper Webb
The Uncertainty Principle by M. L. Williams
Robert Oppenheimer, 1945 by John Witte
Notes Toward A Biography Of Christiaan Radius, Near-sighted Astronomer by Paul Zimmer
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

From the Back Cover

Science and art come together in Verse & Universe, a comprehensive selection of poetic voices revealing the beauty, the precision, the triumphs, and the destructive power inherent in science and technology.

In sections such as "Space," "Matter," "Heavenly Bodies," and "Theory and Speculation," 80 contemporary poets contemplate the revolutions in physics, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, geology, botany, biology, and medicine. Their words celebrate our curiosity and inventiveness, as well as our delight in the act of discovery, as they turn the revelations of science into poetry and capture the nature and spirit of modern scientific inquiry. A few of the outstanding poets in the collection include Loren Eiseley, Jorie Graham, Emily Hiestand, Howard Nemerov, Pattiann Rogers, and Charles Simic.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Milkweed Editions; 1st edition (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571314075
• ISBN-13: 978-1571314079
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #412,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Science enhances Art, January 20, 2000

By 

Kenneth C. Ingham (Garrett Park MD 20896) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verse & Universe: Poems about Science and Mathematics (Paperback)

Verse & Universe: Poems about Science and Mathematics edited by Kurt Brown, Milkweed Publications, 1998

In this anthology, 80 contemporary American poets react with the right sides of their brains to some of the knowledge generated by the left sides of those of their counterparts across the abyss. Science and Mathematics (S&M) has produced some dazzling conclusions about the nature of the universe. But you don't have to be one of them to be awed by black holes or double twists of DNA or the fact that your own body, like the rest of the universe, is mostly empty space . . "and for an instant, the terror of flying apart rushes through me like a close call on the interstate" (Alison Hawthorne Demming), or to be skeptical about the outrageous claim that . . "everything came from the same infinitesimal seed, about the size they say, of the dot at the end of this sentence" (Dinah Berland), or to be able to picture the universe expanding . . "like the pores of Dizzy Gillespie's cheeks when he blew his horn" (John Sokol).

The more than 250 poems in this collection illustrate how the dimensions of artistic perception have expanded as science reveals underlying and overlaying beauty, invisible to the naked eye but increasingly amenable to anyone willing to peer thorough a scope or merely read a newspaper, as did Nancy Kassel, who took a NY Times article about embryology as the inspiration for her poem Architecture. Scientists themselves are as apt to first learn of a breakthrough by reading The Post as by reading academic journals. And, as this volume shows, the language of S&M is rich with metaphoric potential, words and sounds that in the context of a poem become even more evocative . . "Its an injustice that only neuro-doctors get to say these words" (Thomas Lux). And now, S&M has given us computer graphics, as if . . "to prove its theory with a work of art" (Maura Stanton).

Most of these poems are not "about" but rather "inspired by" S&M. A few wander so far from these subjects that I wonder why they were included. Others keep to the point in a way that one can easily learn from them. I didn't know for example that the species identity of a spider can be inferred from the uniqueness of its web no matter where its built . . "it is wonderful how things work: I will tell you about it because it is interesting" (A. R. Ammons), or that the function of the pineal gland remained obscure . . "til Aaron Lerner, awash in kilos of bovine pineals, extracted melatonin . . a hormone that did bleach tadpoles" (Roald Hoffman). Rather than be educated, you might be titillated as was I by escapades recalled in Gloria Vando's depiction of a planetary nebula . . "pulsating red giant with a small hot companion". In Facing my Amygdala, Denise Duhamel elaborates an intimate list of personal fears as she imagines examining that part of her brain where they reside . . "so crowded they pile on top of each other". Pattiann Rogers, in Rights of Passage, takes us through the steps of frog embryogenesis, telling in her distinctive voice how . . "the growing blastula turns itself inside out unassisted and becomes a gut . . even as . . the sound of the Heron jerks across the lake". There is gravity, "the way it keeps everybody close to the ground" (Tim Seibles), Newton's apple . . "still falling . . lawfully . . and wasn't that one of her prize worms we saw crawling off into the unthinkable" (Charles Simic), as well as levity . . "imagine squatting in the wasteland of Pluto, all five tons of you, or wandering around Mercury wondering what to do with your ounce" (Billy Collins). And poor number zero . . "born to live a life of emptiness, only child of plus and minus" (Sue Owen).

Understanding these poems, like the subjects they address, requires effort. I found the experience worth while and was left with the impression that the cultural gap between science and art may be narrowing. But if TRUTH is defined as the absence of unanswered questions, we have far to go. For it seems that every question answered by our left lobes only generates new ones on our right. Verse and Universe represents an honest attempt at collaboration.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read My Mind, October 25, 2004

By 

Annette (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verse & Universe: Poems about Science and Mathematics (Paperback)

I am a student at a magnet school for science and math. The editor of this anthology, Kurt Brown, visited my English class today. We read a good portion of the book in preparation for this visit. Though I haven't finished it yet, what I have read has left me feeling as if these poets read my mind. I have always seen the beauty in mathematics and science, which is why I go to the school I do. But language has always been a love of mine. Words, poems, they hold their own truth. Neither science nor poetry are the absolute truth, but together, as this book shows, they become something wonderful.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book Thanks!, April 23, 2001

By 

Henry Pollack (Miami, fl United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Verse & Universe: Poems about Science and Mathematics (Paperback)

Science enhances Art, January 20, 2000 Verse & Universe: Poems about Science and Mathematics edited by Kurt Brown, Milkweed Publications, 1998

In this anthology, 80 contemporary American poets react with the right sides of their brains to some of the knowledge generated by the left sides of those of their counterparts across the abyss. Science and Mathematics (S&M) has produced some dazzling conclusions about the nature of the universe. But you don't have to be one of them to be awed by black holes or double twists of DNA or the fact that your own body, like the rest of the universe, is mostly empty space . . "and for an instant, the terror of flying apart rushes through me like a close call on the interstate" (Alison Hawthorne Demming), or to be skeptical about the outrageous claim that . . "everything came from the same infinitesimal seed, about the size they say, of the dot at the end of this sentence" (Dinah Berland), or to be able to picture the universe expanding . . "like the pores of Dizzy Gillespie's cheeks when he blew his horn" (John Sokol).

The more than 250 poems in this collection illustrate how the dimensions of artistic perception have expanded as science reveals underlying and overlaying beauty, invisible to the naked eye but increasingly amenable to anyone willing to peer thorough a scope or merely read a newspaper, as did Nancy Kassel, who took a NY Times article about embryology as the inspiration for her poem Architecture. Scientists themselves are as apt to first learn of a breakthrough by reading The Post as by reading academic journals. And, as this volume shows, the language of S&M is rich with metaphoric potential, words and sounds that in the context of a poem become even more evocative . . "Its an injustice that only neuro-doctors get to say these words" (Thomas Lux). And now, S&M has given us computer graphics, as if . . "to prove its theory with a work of art" (Maura Stanton).

Most of these poems are not "about" but rather "inspired by" S&M. A few wander so far from these subjects that I wonder why they were included. Others keep to the point in a way that one can easily learn from them. I didn't know for example that the species identity of a spider can be inferred from the uniqueness of its web no matter where its built . . "it is wonderful how things work: I will tell you about it because it is interesting" (A. R. Ammons), or that the function of the pineal gland remained obscure . . "til Aaron Lerner, awash in kilos of bovine pineals, extracted melatonin . . a hormone that did bleach tadpoles" (Roald Hoffman). Rather than be educated, you might be titillated as was I by escapades recalled in Gloria Vando's depiction of a planetary nebula . . "pulsating red giant with a small hot companion". In Facing my Amygdala, Denise Duhamel elaborates an intimate list of personal fears as she imagines examining that part of her brain where they reside . . "so crowded they pile on top of each other". Pattiann Rogers, in Rights of Passage, takes us through the steps of frog embryogenesis, telling in her distinctive voice how . . "the growing blastula turns itself inside out unassisted and becomes a gut . . even as . . the sound of the Heron jerks across the lake". There is gravity, "the way it keeps everybody close to the ground" (Tim Seibles), Newton's apple . . "still falling . . lawfully . . and wasn't that one of her prize worms we saw crawling off into the unthinkable" (Charles Simic), as well as levity . . "imagine squatting in the wasteland of Pluto, all five tons of you, or wandering around Mercury wondering what to do with your ounce" (Billy Collins). And poor number zero . . "born to live a life of emptiness, only child of plus and minus" (Sue Owen).

Understanding these poems, like the subjects they address, requires effort. I found the experience worth while and was left with the impression that the cultural gap between science and art may be narrowing. But if TRUTH is defined as the absence of unanswered questions, we have far to go. For it seems that every question answered by our left lobes only generates new ones on our right. Verse and Universe represents an honest attempt at collaboration.