Paul Dirac quote

A really great quote from my google quote of the day widget:

"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite."
Paul Dirac
English physicist in US (1902 - 1984)

Phillip Lopate poem

I was digging around in a desk drawer for ibuprofen (yes it's one of those days) and found a printout of a Phillip Lopate poem that I used to have hanging above my monitor at my old job. Though I'm not usually one for poetry (with the exception of AA Milne) I've loved this poem since I first encountered it in the great book Bird by Bird. It seemed like a perfect thing to share on a Thursday afternoon.

We Who Are Your Closest Friends
Phillip Lopate

We who are
your closest friends
feel the time
has come to tell you
that every Thursday
we have been meeting,
as a group,
to devise ways
to keep you
in perpetual uncertainty
frustration
discontent and
torture
by neither loving you
as much as you want
nor cutting you adrift.
Your analyst is
in on it,
plus your boyfriend
and your ex-husband;
and we have pledged
to disappoint you
as long as you need us.
In announcing our
association
we realize we have
placed in your hands
a possible antidote
against uncertainty
indeed against ourselves.
But since our Thursday nights
have brought us
to a community
of purpose
rare in itself
with you as
the natural center,
we feel hopeful you
will continue to make unreasonable
demands for affection
if not as a consequence
of your disastrous personality
then for the good of the collective.