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 Quantum
Physics 
 
	
	
	
	
	
A squirrel is furiously twitching its tail  
	
	
	
	
	
for some reason, or so it seems, as the moon 
	
	
	
	
	
draws up and lowers the oceans as if  
	
	
	
	
	
they were its inexhaustible lovers. 
	
	
	
	
	
Such precision and regularity must amaze 
	
	
	
	
	
the clouds wrapped in their inconstancy. 
	
	
	
	
	
We accept that the rose's bloom with its beauty  
	
	
	
	
	
can draw blood with its thorns and that the sun's  
	
	
	
	
	
life-giving glow can be a cancerous murderer. 
	
	
	
	
	
We communicate with speed and distance  
	
	
	
	
	
beyond the imagination of profoundest thinkers  
	
	
	
	
	
of ancient Greece and Rome or wisest seers of the Orient,  
	
	
	
	
	
but what message can we receive that a handshake  
	
	
	
	
	
or a kiss has not already revealed? And yet the intellect 
	
	
	
	
	
thinking itself ever nimble searches for something 
	
	
	
	
	
more, always something more, because the twitching 
	
	
	
	
	
never ceases for some unknown reason 
	
	
	
	
	
or for some unknown unreason. 
 
	
	
	
	
	 
 
	
	
	
	
	
	 
Cadillacs 
	
 
	
	
	
	
		
To me Cadillacs used to look different 
	
	
	
	
		
from other cars, heftier, with solid 
	
	
	
	
		
sounding doors when they clicked shut.  
	
	
	
	
		
Their tires looked and smelled larger  
	
	
	
	
		
with wide banded white walls. 
	
	
	
	
		
Even the eye of the cigarette lighter had flair. 
	
	
	
	
		
The sky and stars above wore a tuxedo  
	
	
	
	
		
and evening gown sewn with diamonds. 
	
	
	
	
		
Riding in a Cadillac with all that chrome 
	
	
	
	
		
dazzled me looking through a thick windshield 
	
	
	
	
		
where daffodils waved by the roadside  
	
	
	
	
		
and irises the color of sky welcomed me home.  
	
	
	
	
		
Father would shift into neutral  
	
	
	
	
		
while I opened the garage doors. 
	
	
	
	
		
And the car would glide in silent as a dream. 
	
	
	
	
		
The world was aglow,  
	
	
	
	
		
shining so bright it almost hurt my eyes.  
	
	
	
	
		
The pink tongue of the cat 
	
	
	
	
		
lapped at milk pure as snow,  
	
	
	
	
		
back when snow was not irradiated 
	
	
	
	
		
and clouds were white as clouds. 
	
  
	
	
	 
		
			
				
					 
				 
			 
		 
     
	
 
William Page's poetry has appeared widely in such journals as The Southern Review, The North American Review, Southwest Review, Nimrod, Wisconsin Review, The Midwest Quarterly, Kansas Quarterly, The Literary Review, Mississippi Review, Cimarron Review, The Chariton Review, Southern Poetry Review, South Carolina Review, Tar River Poetry, Ploughshares, The Pedestal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and The Innisfree Poetry Journal, and in a number of anthologies.  His third collection of poems, Bodies Not Our Own, received a Walter R. Smith Distinguished Book Award. His collection, William Page Greatest Hits 1970-2000 published by Pudding House Publications, is now available from Kattywompus Press. He is Founding Editor of The Pinch and a retired professor of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Memphis. 
 
     
 
 
 
  
   
   
     
 
  
          
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