GI press release inspires poem about magnetic nanoparticles
The GI Public Information Office received a nifty email from Scotland this week.
"Hello, I was inspired to write a poem for my weekly blog about the amazing research featured in your press release! I have let the researchers know, but I thought I'd send it to you as well, having read your excellent account."
"Many Thanks,
Dr Sam Illingworth
Associate Professor in Academic Practice
Department of Learning and Teaching Enhancement
Edinburgh Napier University"
Shattered Magnetism
by Sam Illingworth
Cloaked in weathered loam
fraying edges sink from view,
the violence of a distant past
now hidden in the horsetails
that lie littered in decay.
Delicate grooves radiate
downwards into the
scorched and
shattered
earth.
Echoes of forgotten
shockwaves
reverberate across
the rock face,
its stolen stability
since shielded from rebirth.
A drought of enticement
drawing boundaries unseen,
yet marked to be found.
The press release Illingworth references was written by GI public information officer Rod Boyce and featured research conducted by Gunther Kletetschka and his colleagues on a method for detecting and better defining meteorite impact sites.
Kletetschka quickly replied, quoting a poem in return.
"Dear Sam,
You wrote a beautiful poem! Your poem reminded me about Scotland, where it was first realized that rocks can speak and tell about past events that were dramatic, sometimes not only for a region, but the whole world, events that take our breath away. Like plate tectonics, laws of sediment superposition, lots of ideas born in rocky Highlands of Scotland.
Thank you Sam. I wish one day we can talk about your poem and its meaning over the glass of beer.
With the warm greetings ...
Gunther Kletetschka
"Go on while you are living,
rest,... and death will haunt you,
if your legs can't walk,
push with your hands,
if your hands can't push,
crawl with your fingers,
If your fingers can't crawl,
bite with your teeth,
bite the way and move,
when your teeth fail,
scowl with your eyes,
scowl and go,
when your eyes become blind,
and all seems hopeless,
believe, believe with all your heart.... and go"
Kletetschka plans to add Illingworth’s poem to a poster he’ll be presenting about the research at science conferences.