HE NEVER NEEDED A LOGARITHM

Earlier this year, in the heat wave summer, I was waiting for a train and found myself explaining why the train had to go slowly, it was due to the effect of the heat expanding the rails. I wrote this poem afterwards.

He had always claimed

that the maths he learned in school

was of no use to his grown up self

He had never needed a logarithm

or felt the urge to conjure up a cosine

or divine the square root of anything

Now he was faced with reality

delayed as he was in the terminal heat

by the coefficient of linear expansion

He was attempting to explain

why the heat buckled rails

and had put a stop to their train

It honestly is the only time I have ever had to explain [or use] any of those maths/science equations I was forced to learn at school and as an apprentice. I remember the consternation of the college lecturers when electronic calculators were invented! They would make everyone stupid. Stick with a slide rule was their cry. [There must be a poem in that...]

TRIPPING

He had negotiated his self-imposed chaos

made it through the reefs in his eyes

pulsing blue and yellow overlays

which shine like oil slick rain drops

a swell rocks each foot anew

as he shambles down the afternoon

High water infinity calls to him over the waves

the hour is expanded

minutes have their own life

tell their own tales

I leave you to draw your own conclusions about this second poem.

Here's Spirit with Natures Way.

Until next time.