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Saturday 25 February 2012

String Theory for Puppets

Written for The Poets' United #85 Thursday Think Tank "strings".

"I'll be there...
like a puppet on a string,"
sang Sandie Shaw back in the sixties...

and so we all were are - and will be
if the scientists are right,
if the theory is correct,
if the planet and the universe,
if all that therein is, from
the ocean to a virus,
from the sun to you and me
is composed of tiny strings,
if the strings vibrate like hell,
if the strings are one dimensional
and if that one dimension
is piddlingly small
and if they're all attached -
though some of them are not -
to membranes known as branes,
if that aint quite enough to blow your brains...

It's sub-atomic particles
we're talking about here,
the things that in the sixties
were little tiny balls -
which is too low tech' for now.

But it's rather hard to argue,
so kick off yer shoes and dance
and sing with Sandie Shaw
C G G7 C
I....wonder if one day that, you'll say that, you care.
G G7 C
If you say you love me madly, I'll gladly, be there.
G G7 G G7
Like a puppet on a str....ing.

The strings are tuned to wavelengths
like the strings on a violin,
like Sandy in the sixties
when she'd open a new key
and her voice would billow out:

Just who's pulling the strings
I'm all tied up to you
But where's it leading me to?

Like a puppet on a str....ing.


I was younger then than I am now
and maybe you were too.
They didn't tell us gravity
was stranger than we knew,
was an interloper loping in
from somewhere out beyond the blue,
a dimension that we hardly thought
could possibly be true,
was not a part of us at all,
at all, at all, no, not at all!

Now we all of us are puppets
with strings that can be pulled,
but we're also made of other strings -
and so are those that pull.


17 comments:

Dr. Pearl Ketover Prilik (PKP) said...

Oooh a string theory poem set to puppet on a string. Every particle and wave delicious !

Daydreamertoo said...

What a fabulously clever read Dave. I don't think we will ever 'crack' all of the things we don't know but, I do think we will wipe out our own existence through 'meddling' to find out! Who knows, maybe that's how it all began before, someone created the particle beam collider and Big Bang and... voila!
Always liked that song :)

David Cranmer said...

Me gusta!

Mary said...

Intense, Dave. I do like the connections your mind makes.

Yousei Hime said...

You've packed a lot of images in this--string bead curtain? I read something else recently that reminds me of your ending, how being an adult is not the freedom childhood thinks it is.

Thanks for your visit and encouraging comment at my site.

Tabor said...

What a fascinating string theory...I almost understand it although I cannot understand the scientific version very well.

Carrie Van Horn said...

You are right Dave....we were on the same wave length......love what you did with yours.....it is music to my ears! :-)

Jackie Jordan said...

Very nice read, Dave. I love theroies, and have been toying with a Science Fiction story about adenosinetriphosphate - one of the most memeroble lessons learned in college. Your story is encouraging!

Brian Miller said...

smiles...love the break into song man...and i like your theory as well...we all have strings, its all in who we let pull them....

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

Dear Dave, I was a boy, back then, a child, you remind me of a "godess" who sang coming onto the stage barefoot...is it a memory or a dream, or both?

Windsmoke. said...

For me the last stanza rings true and says it all :-).

Rose said...

Delightful! A wonderful read :D

Mary B. Mansfield said...

Wow, loved this! The intertwining of science and song packs quite a punch.

kaykuala said...

You packed a lot of wallop on those strings, Dave! Sometimes a child discovers it is not really a big thing to be adults!

Hank

Madeleine Begun Kane said...

A fascinating approach to that prompt. Beautifully done!

Dave King said...

Dr. Prilik
Hi, and a very warm welcome to you. Thank you for your kind comment.

Daydreamertoo
Yes, I do so agree. That's a clever take on a worryingly possible scenario. Thank you for your interest.

David
me chuffed!

Mary
Thanks for this. Interesting - and nice! - to know.

janaki
Welcome. Thanks for your visit and for stopping by to comment.

Yousei
Two fascinating observations here. I much like the bead curtain analogy and your childhood/adult quote. Thank you for them.

Tabor
I think I understand it a bit more than I did. They do say if you want to understand something, go explain it to someone...

Carrie
Thanks for this. Good to have you visiting.

Jackie
I very much hope you write your story. I should like to read it. Thanks for your interest.

Brian
Mmmm, the poem was a bt of an experiment, truth to tell. Thanks for your response.

Tommaso
It was Sandy Shaw. She always sang bare foot.

Windsmoke
Thanks. I can live with that!

Rose
Many thanks for your kind words.

Mary
Hi, Good to have your company. Thank you for visiting and for your kind remark.

Kaykuala
Yes, I think we all did. Or at least, went through a phase of.

Madeleine
Thank you so much. Really appreciated.

Ygraine said...

There is a powerful cosmic quality to this poem.
I adore the way you relate the very atoms of being to Sandie Shaw's 'Puppet on a String!'
Another masterpiece, Dave.
Well done :)