Schrödinger's Thought Experiment

SCHROEDINGER'S THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

In the box there is a cat
and a capsule of cyanide.
The chances of the capsule
disintegrating, releasing deadly gas,
killing the cat,
are strictly fifty-fifty.

When we open the box
the cat will be alive
else the cat will be dead.

Until we open the box
what is the state of the cat ?

The relativity physicist
simply doesn't know.

The quantum physicist
is not at all uncertain -
the cat is both alive and dead -
in suspended animation.
It his opening of the box
that will resolve the matter
one way or the other.

The cat is an existentialist.

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Gee Cross, 10th January 1988

Publications

1990 Spider Eyes (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1995 POSITIVELY POETRY (Hyde, New Hope International)
1997 Dark Planet (Internet)

*****

EXPERIMENTUL "PISICA LUI SCHRODINGER"

In cutie avem o pisica

Si o capsula cu cianura

Sansele capsulei de a se desintegra

Eliberand gazul mortal si ucigand pisica

Sunt strict egale.

Cand vom deschide cutia

pisica va fi vie

sau, in caz contrar, moarta.

Dar pana sa deschidem cutia

Care este starea pisicii?

Fizicianul relativist

pur si simplu nu stie.

Fizicianul quantic

nu are indoieli defel-

pisica este si vie si moarta-

in animatie suspendata.

Doar deschiderea cutiei

va rezolva problema

intr-un fel sau altul.

Pisica este existentialista......

GERALD ENGLAND

Romanian translation by Octavian Blaga and Florentin Smarandache

Publication

2000 The Fifth Season (Romania)

Lands End

               LANDS END

               The island cries
               Its tears are lost
               in the spray of the racing surf
               The rock hurts
               Pain penetrates each stratum
               The gas is low
               The kettle boils but slowly
               Cove and Cape concentrate the anger of rain
               Water persists in clouds
               In the morning of Good Friday
               the sun celebrates silence
               Early risers chew noisily
               on hot-cross-buns
               It is silly to talk of islands
               that do not cry
               or of rocks that feel no pain
               On the edge
               no man is untouched
               Behind all showers
               a rainbow hides

              © GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Sennen, 20th April 1985

Publications

1985 Pennine Platform (UK)
1986 FUTURES (Ipswich, Magic Pen Press)
1990 Spider Eyes (USA)
1993 Dial 174 (UK)
1999 Black Creek Review (USA)

May Eve

MAY EVE

It is late
and I have a hard day tomorrow
I should be in bed
for I am well tired
but thoughts are bottled up inside me
and I must release them
before I sleep

The cork fits tight
No matter how hard I pull
I cannot release it

Tomorrow is more than a new day
It is a new month
the month of May
But what does that mean to me?
There are few celebrations in the city
one takes notice of
There are too many celebrations
to notice the particular
My two eyes,
my two tired, drooping eyes
have never gazed upon a Maypole
I cannot imagine the revelry
of Richmond in sixteen-sixty
with the Sheriff and the Bishop of Hereford
joining in with the throng —
the May games
the morrice-dancing
the drinking of sack
the Robin Hood play —

The cork still lies in the bottle's neck
I take the bottle
I smash it  Crash

The thoughts spill out onto the paper
disappear out of sight
over the table's edge
My mind is emptied
I have lost my thoughts
At least I can go to sleep in peace

© Gerald England

Composed: Glasgow, 14th April 1967

Publication

1990 Spider Eyes (USA)