Neither A Mermaid Nor A Dwarf Poem by Margaret Alice

Went for a churning in the sea’s washing
machine, the whitest foam and impossible
to swim, standing in shallow water up to my
knees only when hit by a wall of water
sending me reeling backwards

Waves insisting on washing me out to Durban
while the life-guards marked only a small safe
area; the sea clearing out my sinuses for the
rest of my life - I am a golem with a mermaid-
chem in my head

But the sea requires more power today, I think
a troll stands more chance of tackling and taming
those wayward waves, neither a mermaid nor a
dwarf can make any headway, I’ll turn back to
reading Mr Tompkins by George Gamow

The Professor says ‘this object is mostly here,
but partially there and even yonder’, just like
my mind, bits of it are spread around, now I send
a part of it to the Internet; I laugh as I read
‘You show a peculiar slowness of

Comprehension’, that’s me, still finding it difficult
to understand quantum theory, but loving the terms
used to discuss it, if the quantum of action were
very big, ‘the first quantum of caress’ would break
a kitten’s neck! - while the professor’s words

‘The funny behavior we observe in the quantum world
is just due to the fact that we are looking at them’
describes Hollywood perfectly, funny aberrations
are caused by the papperazzi and us watching them
in fascination daily….

George Gamow “Mr Tompkins in Paperback”
Canto edition 2002; pp.81,86,87,88