Reversals of Fortune - 6 Sharings
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Poet’s Notes:
‘Reversals of Fortune’ (as a title) certainly has room for expansion. Here’s hoping I will be able to get my magnetic flux in a row before my Muse ends its hike!
(1) All snowflakes may look the same to the human eye, but they aren’t. Just as it is with human evolution, no individual is the same even in the rare circumstances when their genetics are identical (nature), and nurture is never the same.
(2) The client, in this case, was USGS that bought instruments designed by Superconducting Technology, the company I worked for, to measure the super weak magnetic fields captured in slices cut across core shafts through sedimentary rock. Researchers then used these measurements to create maps of how the earth’s magnetic poles have moved over hundreds of thousands of years into the past.
This USGS study produced a previously unexpected result that the earth’s magnetic poles not only move but can reverse their polarity. Many reversals happen slowly (say 2,000 to 20,000 years), but a few did happen quickly (in about 100 years – the span of human life).
Earth’s magnetic field offers life here significant protection from dangerous radiation. During such a reversal, a substantial reduction of the earth’s magnetic field might occur. A solar flare that erupted in our direction at such a time could potentially destroy much of the earth’s electronic infrastructure and take scores of years to repair or replace. An event like this would most likely be catastrophic for humanity!
(3) Geologists looking for oil reserves deep in the earth frequently look at core samples of rock to investigate underground rock formations.
(4) The presence of sedimentary rock is proof of an ancient lake’s existence, even if the bands found in the rock are no longer horizontal for some reason.
(5) Because the rainfall in different areas tends to be seasonal, it is relatively simple to count passing years in its vertical bands. With worldwide studies of the magnetic fields trapped in such rocks commonplace, it is possible to know the age of an unknown sedimentary rock by comparing the changes in the magnetic field its layers have recorded to available records. Now, fossils found in sedimentary can also be dated. Even the age of stalagmites found in ancient caves can be dated using this technique.
(6) Using our unique calendar, the earth would be about 18.5 years old when the dinosaurs first evolved. By our current mores, this ancient world would just barely be eligible to vote, drink beer, and legally have sex.
Reversals of Fortune
I. Most think luck’s just what happens, though love groks luck’s seized
by each seed that sticks (somehow) in less stone-filled ground
(which its siblings blow off or press past). That’s less luck
to my brain than ‘Casino Royale,’ where all know
odds known stacked from the start, so ‘house’ wins (called ‘fair game’).
When fools dream luck’s their date (even they suss field’s tilt)
still drink poison spiked Kool-Aid - ‘it’s fun too, to lose.’
Did God’s plan sire this race? Did our kind birth the blues
on our own? Was Excalibur fused to its hilt
in a mass just for Arthur to try (boy stake claim,
change his fortune) or sword drew one flake from the snow (1)
that was blinding our kind; some unique fate had pluck,
though eyes vote we’re the same, to dream table that’s round.
A knight’s fable slays dragons, and ego’s appeased!
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II. I watched fortune reverse as I found my career
as a physicist intern, first real job I’d held.
Work immersed me in projects (a client (2) pursued)
that would study weak magnetic fields found expressed
in thin disks cut from core samples (3) drilled through lost lakes (4)
that time pressed into stone. Sedimentary rock,
as it’s formally known, has ‘flat’ tree ring like bands (5)
that record year’s alluvium carried by rains
and mark seasons’ advance (sets each year’s rains in stone).
As particulates settle, iron particles sown
float, a compass in water, their magnetized grains
in the thousands obey the earth’s North Pole’s commands,
say today where earth’s poles were, lake’s sludge like a clock,
shares the North Poles polarity, maps moves it makes,
pinned like bugs that evolve through the years and get pressed
on a mat to reveal ancient truths. Am I rude
to suggest some ‘truths’ flip-flop, ‘fake news’ be compelled
to send checks to poor sailors, Trump served ‘piss’ not ‘beer?’
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III. With age, my relations have witnessed U-turns
but I’ve learned to trust views of more kindness to moi
(than a pleasing of others) to show folks I care.
There are times that more effort can buy disrespect
when the sharing of pleasure builds chances for trust.
I’ve found homes with a welcome mat sugar enough
to build friendships that last (that more sugar breeds flies)
that a love we corral hints a love in eclipse.
I love love that’s a trellis for personal growth.
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IV. Most invest in their lives with a dream of returns
but to few is love given that skirts the bourgeois
(an old friendship rekindled outflanks an affair?).
Do past lies you acknowledge say bond’s less suspect?
We are all on thin ice who pretend we don’t rust.
I pray Grace can redeem, know I’m not up to snuff,
for my Rubicon’s crossed, and I’m nobody’s prize.
My triangle’s imperfect, my round’s an ellipse,
as my soul still has questions, to ‘faith’ pledge my troth.
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V. Let’s consider the dinosaurs (Lord, what a thought),
graced to die at trail’s end for an asteroid’s hike.
If the day they appeared till today was a year
their goose cooks pre-October by maybe a week
on young earth just entitled to beer at their birth. (6)
Loved by God (more than us?) till they weren’t anymore.
By this calendar’s year, man’s spawned less than a day!
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VI. Yes, your future looks bright if you’re non-astronaut,
for the sun will explode given time. That’s ‘one strike,’
not the ‘out’ seen as stars die on ‘sky’s chandelier.’
I so hate to admit this; you’ll think I’m a freak!
I first thought this a homage to life on this earth,
then I gave Muse its head (that’s not just metaphor)!
So, more verses may follow if Muse holds its sway!
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Brian Johnston
23rd of February in 2021
(Look above for helpful notes)
Copyright © Brian Johnston | Year Posted 2021
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