Counting Sheep Particles

by Andrew Rexford

A tap, tap, tap outside my window,

what could it be? No tree branches

extend so far, and while it is quite dreary,

there are no Ravens on the window sill.

Ah - the melting snow, from a balcony above.

Tap, tap, tap.

Where were these water particles,

before they were melting snow-

have they traveled the globe?

A loud horn honks,

vibrating a glass of water

on my nightstand. The nightly routine

of living on a train track.

Where has this train gone-

has it traveled the country?

What is the train carrying,

steel? Where were these iron particles

before they were turned into steel?

Buried deep in China for millions of years,

finally interrupted so it could be mined and

carried past my bedroom window at 3am.

My eyes grow heavy. I trace back

the passing steel. Traveling

across the states in a shaky train,

wavering the ocean in a cargo ship.

Back to China, buried deep.

Back, back, back.

A distant star, growing hot and heavy.

Bursting into colors of red, yellow, and blue,

a pinkish glow expanding through the galaxy.

Like the iron particles, I fly through space.

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Inspiration:

After reading a nocturne poem in a writing class, I wanted to write my own attempt at where my mind goes at night. For a long stretch of time, I would fall asleep listening to Science Fantastic radio program by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. I would often fall asleep listening to his ideas about the universe and the future, which sometimes led to wild and incredible dreams.

I also grew up a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe, which is where the Raven reference comes from. I also lived on a train track for a year. While some would be annoyed of a train blasting past their window at 3am, I actually quickly came to enjoy it and tune it into my nightly routine. I could always tell the train was coming before I could even hear it, because of the glass water on my nightstand vibrating.

I wanted to show the blend of how art and science both in their own way awaken the “inner child” in us. While art does this through creativity and expressing and thinking about things in new and unexplored ways, science also does this in the sense that science is always asking the questions “why” and “how”, as a child does.