I am a Scientist

searching for a voice that resonates.
I would like to make myself clear.
speak clearly,
simply,
without bullshit.

it’s difficult when
what I have to say doesn’t make sense.
it is an indictment of sense,
of precision, perfection,
of often quoted rationality,
of straight lines ignorant of scatter.

Rock and roll anti-hero once sung,
“I am a scientist, I seek to understand...”
…and I do.
I seek to understand what prevents understanding.
Am I a shitty scientist?
Am I a saboteur?
I am a wanna-be gadfly
and, most of all, a humble human being.

yes I admit,
I am most interested in what eludes description.
in life,
in surprise,
in Mistakes (why not just love them?).
Evolution may be Intelligent after all.

dark late night,
on the verge of a great discovery,
eyes in a microscope,
and mooned by a cyanobacteria!
the little (lovely) bare-assed bastard.
I smile and go to bed.

coyote is the metaphor that sticks (owww!).
thank you Donna Haraway.
provocation may be the only way (oh that blue-green bum!).
thank you David Hume.

what is my role?
perhaps it’s to simply
spread the word.
reality is time-dependent.
space-dependent.
knowledge at time = t
is sometimes shit
at time = t + 1 two southern states away.

so, stress the local,
cut out the middle man!
Rock and roll anti-hero once sung,
“You don’t need a weatherman
to know which way the wind blows.”
Suddenly,
it all became incredibly clear.
conversation,
adaptation,
science =
another lost art.

we are all scientists.