Quarks 101

Tags

Atomic theory, Australian poet, Fundamental particles, Nuclear physics, poem, poetry, quarks

They’re fundamental particles
Described in complex articles.
They have six flavours which is strange;
They form a hadron when arranged.
The ups and downs are very light
But stable and a common sight,
Could we but see them, for we’re blind
To quarks – by colour they’re confined.
The others are the strange and charmed,
(In writing this no quarks were harmed.)
And top and bottom are the last,
With these four changing very fast
To ups and downs by their decays,
For they were made by cosmic rays.
They have two charges, mass, and spin,
And there is broad agreement in
Each published scientific source
That every quark feels every force.
As each quark has an anti-mate,
What if they meet? What is their fate?
If you are just a cloud of quarks,
Could you end in a shower of sparks?

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Discarded Gods

Tags

Ancient Greece, Australian poet, Greek Gods and Godesses, Greek Mythology, Mount Olympus, Petrarchan sonnet, poem, poetry, sonnet

On high Olympus Zeus waters his plants.
His garden blooms; he blows away the snow.
Apollo’s firing arrows from his bow,
As Hera, washing done, hangs out her pants.
Poseidon, Shaker of the Earth, just rants;
He can’t get used to life laid-back and slow.
He longs to plunge into the sea below,
And knows that one fine day he’ll get the chance.
Hung-over, Dionysus grunts and groans,
While Hestia, hearth bound, clears out cold ash.
Vain Aphrodite puts her makeup on,
While razor-sharp, his spear-tip, Ares hones.
The smith Hephaestus gives hot bronze a bash.
They’re out of fashion – but they haven’t gone.

Oh no, they haven’t left the mountain top.
Up on those cloudy heights they still reside;
Wait patiently for what The Fates decide.
On fertile slopes, grows high, Demeter’s crop;
The heavy heads of grain she soon will lop.
And Hermes, fleet of foot, still travels wide;
As exercise, the god won’t be denied.
Athena, helping Hera, wields a mop,
As Artemis heads off to hunt for deer;
Her quiver and her bow across her back.
Hephaestus is still making lots of noise,
And Dionysus downs another beer.
Zeus gazes down on Greece, gone to the pack,
And smiles at the obtuseness of his toys.

Snaggletooth

Tags

Australian poet, Dentist, poem, poetry, Toothache

As old car bodies yield to rust,
So we decay – I feel concussed.
A tooth’s been torn from worn old gums,
And will be sorely missed by chums
Whose ranks are thinning. These brave chaps
Between them see the yawning gaps –
The fallen who have lost the fight.
But those few left – no longer white,
Must grind the gruel and chew the crust,
Until the last one bites the dust.

Divided

Tags

Ancient Roman law, Ancient Rome, Australian poet, Australian traditional poetry, Formal poetry, poem, poetry, Republican Rome, The Twelve Tables

That rascal Titus now has paid.
(As time and Titus have expired.)
Divided neatly with a blade –
Distributed – the flesh required.

The law dictated our decision;
It is writ that rogues must pay.
Proportional precise division
Of remains – the fairest way.

Those owed debts of substantial size
Got choicest portions – legs, arms, heart.
My share? But two bits I would prize,
Contained within one wrinkled part.

The parcel came by slave this morning;
Neither severed head nor guts,
For I had given him fair warning:
Titus knew I’d have his nuts.

Hug Off!

Tags

Australian poet, Hugging, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry

There sure is a sure way to bug me.
It’s easy – you just have to hug me.
Oh yes, you may try
But be ready when I
Say: “Thou musn’t!” and then promptly slug thee.

A Baboon Tune near Rangoon

Tags

Australian poet, Nonsense verse, poem, poetry

It was just to the west of Rangoon –
We had been in the country since June.
I was leading my press-ganged platoon;
Each a pirate – a paid picaroon,
(Was no place for a pasty poltroon.)
When we spotted a rabid baboon,
By a large lily-padded lagoon.
(On it floated a flimsy pontoon.)
He was wearing, this burly buffoon,
The uniform of a Dragoon.
(If my memory’s correct it was noon;
Overhead shone a silvery moon.)
We observed as this lone loopy loon,
On a battered and buckled bassoon,
(Not perturbed by a howling monsoon –
Or more accurately, a typhoon.)
Played quite skilfully, a marching tune,
So I threw him a shiny doubloon,
And we listened till late afternoon,
Then we bid our farewells to the goon.

Essential Associate

Tags

Australian poet, Emily Davison, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry, Suffragettes

I’m worried – the missus is crook.
She’s dyin’ unless I’m mistook.
Don’t know what’s beset her;
I hope she gets better,
For I cannot wash, clean, or cook.

Whirlpools

Tags

Australian poet, Black Holes, Galaxies, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry, Whirlpool

Whirlpool

The suns and the planets they roll,
As all matter is sucked to the goal.
And to black fades the light,
As it loses the fight
With the galaxy’s massive black hole.

Whirlpool 2

I once spied a paddling of ducks
Rotating upon a conflux.
I called out to them: “Fly!
Escape now or you’ll die!”
They said: “Try as we might, this thing sucks.”

Pint-sized Paddy Porn

Tags

Australian poet, hanging horn, Leprechauns, limerick, Limerick poem, Limerick poetry, poem, poetry

There was a depraved leprechaun
Who had a small part in some porn.
The director said: “Shoot!”
So he took off his suit,
And hung it upon a buck’s horn.

Grilled (by) Lobsters

Tags

Australian poet, Australian traditional poetry, Clean up your room!, Jordan B Peterson, Lobsters, poem, poetry

I had a nightmare about mobsters.
They had whiskers and claws – they were lobsters.
I was tied to a chair, and their pincers,
They pinched, and they laughed at my winces.
And they said in their strange lobster voices:
“Be a man – you have plenty of choices.
Don’t be weak – this is pretty mild torture.
Just remember what Peterson taught ya:
Life is hard, but be brave as you suffer;
You’ll emerge quite considerably tougher.”

I awoke in my bed safe and sound,
And no lobsters were there to be found.
It was like I’d escaped from the tomb.
I proceeded to clean up my room.

Clean up your room!