Holy hologram!
December 1, 2010 | 9:30 am
In response to our article about the holographic universe and physicist Craig Hogan’s proposed holometer experiment at Fermilab, we received a letter and poem from Harley White, who lives in Granada, Spain. She wrote:
Hello,
After reading some articles about the holographic noise experiments, I was spurred to write a poem. Although my knowledge of physics is miniscule (perhaps a little less so than that famed Planck unit), my inspiration was astronomical enough to cause the following composition.
Warm regards and good luck!
Harley WhiteHoly Hologram!
Say we dwell
In a 3-D projection
That truly is 2-D
Though hidden by scale,String-theoried along
In our quantized vale
Where time dances quaintly
O’er space hill and dale,Then reality isn’t
At all as it seems
But more like the visions
Segueing in dreams—Weird warped, yet truth fabricked
Such stuff conjectures are made on
A universe still in conception
Oho hologram!—While headlong we lumber
Mistake wake and slumber
Spin webs from thin air
Sing ho for the life…
Hogan appreciated the poem, which we forwarded to him. Responding by e-mail, he commented, “What’s nice about this is that the poet seems truly inspired by the poetry of the physics itself.”
Kurt Riesselmann
Posted in Physics and Art |
7 Comments »
December 5th, 2010 at 3:28 am
Harley’s poem is full of wonder at the interlocking intricate design of the awesome universe, it’s Wonderful!!!
December 5th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Art responding to physics. Most appropriate.
December 6th, 2010 at 4:46 am
Dreams and physics combined in a harmonious waltz thanks to Harley. Great!
December 6th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Marvelous to combine physics and poetry so beautifully. Adds a philosophical edge….. We’d love to see more of Harley and other poets on your site.
December 7th, 2010 at 2:51 am
I have the honor of being Harley’s sister, and I am so happy to see others appreciate her incredible writing! Harley takes words and weaves them in an out of science, myths, images, and, yes, writes the holograms of her mind so personally that it is bound to touch your mind also … At the very least, it touches mine profoundly.
Thank you, Harley, for being there.
December 8th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Very clever–we don’t see many poems about physics.
December 25th, 2010 at 9:58 am
I have been obsessed with the possibility of dreams simply being an alternate reality since I was in my teens (now 67). Perhaps the big bang is simply the creative force of a dream. In other words we bring universes into existence every time we dream (bang). Is our present awake reality just a another dream ? When and if we awake from a dream perhaps it is just another dream. Can I dream while in my dream and if I can then the ripple of creativity continues to create further worlds ( realities) just as a pebble thrown into a pond. If our reality is simply being dreamt then everything and everyone are simply projections of the dreamers mind. In otherwords even though I am the main character in my dream everything else in my dream is me. That makes the dreamer the universal mind (the collective unconsiousness) and is what connects all other things in my dream.
I have argued with friends and family for years that there is no way (no evidence) one can use to determine whether they are asleep or awake. Anything we think, see, hear, feel smell we can dream that we think, see, hear, smell or feel. There fore there is no way to distinquish whether we are dreaming. Friends will always argue that dreams have a different feel and are disconnected but that is only apparent upon wakening. And if we are aware in our dream of the discontinuity can’t we just being dreaming that something seems different.
I understand that what I have saying may be more in the area of philosophy but for me the dream as a model for the unity and connectedness of all things rings very true. I have writen a poem that more thoroughly describes my feeling (entitles “You could be me” but I am not sure if it is really appropriate for your site and I don’t know how to add it as an attachment. In anycase thanks for putting up with my jabbering–since my wife is tired of hearing about it for the last 40 years of our marriage. PS I have a sense that some how dreams and holograms have alot in common.