We Shall Know our Vascularity

 We Shall Know our Vascularity

The complexity of vascular networks varies across and within organisms to meet the different metabolic needs of the tissues §

The bodybuilder wants his veins to be prominent
so we know how lean she is
how hard they worked out today
this week, this year, this lifetime

The sequoia draws water
from the tips of its roots
to the pores of its leaves
transpiration
osmosis
cohesion-tension
capillarity
water becomes sap
becomes water again
nutrients and minerals flow
extract, deliver, deposit

don't forget
their mycorrhizal network
tying them together
delivering micronutrients
  and warnings

or the food web tying
a deep network of
krill and crustacea
ichtyol and cephalopod
eaten by salmon
who must spawn
upriver
the bears who gorge on them
and then shit nutrients
onto the forest floor
    not to mention the Pope

The industrial world extrudes tendrils of
roads and shipping routes
hubs and spokes of airlines
communications networks
to move commodities
atoms and bits and bobs
extract, deliver, exude

Life is that which wills to live
  amongst that which wills to live
defying gravity
reversing entropy
order and chaos convolved

§ O’Connor, C., Brady, E., Zheng, Y. et al. Engineering the multiscale complexity of vascular networks. Nat Rev Mater 7, 702–716 (2022)                   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflections on Self and Other: Embracing Paradoxes

This is not a poem, nor is it written by a human... it is the output of GPT4 when I first asked it to write odes to A) Umwelt; B) Umgebung; C) Innerwelt and then to reflect on the paradoxes and dualities of self-other in that regard: Reflections on Self and Other: Embracing Paradoxes In the intricate tapestry of existence, a dance unfolds between the realms of self and other, where dualities and paradoxes intertwine. Within the realm of Umwelt, individual perceptions shape our understanding of the world. Each of us holds a unique lens through which we interpret our surroundings, yet within these boundaries, we feel an inherent yearning for connection with others. It is the paradox of embracing our own distinctiveness while recognizing the shared humanity that binds us. Umgebung, the stage upon which life plays out, encompasses diverse landscapes and environments. Mountains, rivers, cities, and forests create a multitude of Umgebungen, each offering a distinct backdrop for our individua...
Read more

Moving the Bones - Rick Barot

 During our hiatus as an active weekly group, generating running multi-voice poems, I was struck with this particular one from Poem-a-Day which moved me and I thought to share it here: Moving the Bones Rick Barot There are too many ancestors, so we are gathering their bones. The poor ones, their graves broken by the roots of trees. The ones whose headstones have been weathe...
Read more

What a Stone Feels

<this is the first assignment I wrote for the Paul Kingsnorth - " Rewild Your Words " online course we took in December which is how our Poetry/Writing Sunday Salon got started. I'm CC:ing the other participants so they can see by example how to post their own work to this blog via e-mail> On my property there are many river-stones that were almost surely brought here by previous humans.   I could have closed my eyes, my ears, my nose and groped around until I found them, channeling Helen Keller perhaps... but I did not... I sought out a particularly apt stone for this purpose, with my eyes and my memory.  I have hefted these stones before and even know what they smell and taste like.    I passed over the pile brought in for the purpose of facing a wall, each about fist-sized... not too large to throw effectively but too large for a sling or slingshot.   I avoided the ones marking the good-dogs grave near the entrance to the property....
Read more