Mark Srand

I really enjoyed A blizzard in one by Mark Strand but i did not know how to go about writing something for my blog about it. So I decided to pick my top three favorite poems in this book and explaining their significance and depth.

"Old Man Leaves The Party"


"It was clear when I left the party
That though I was over eighty I still had
A beautiful body. The moon shone down as it will
On moments of deep introspection. The wind held its breath.
And look, somebody left a mirror leaning against a tree.
Making sure that I was alone, I took off my shirt.
The flowers of bear grass nodded their moonwashed heads.
I took off my pants and the magpies circled the redwoods.
Down in the valley the creaking river was flowing once more.
How strange that I should stand in the wilds alone with my body.
I know what you are thinking. I was like you once. But now
With so much before me, so many emerald trees, and
Weed-whitened fields, mountains and lakes, how could I not
Be only myself, this dream of flesh, from moment to moment?"



At first glance this poem seems to be the beginning of an acid trip story with a man leaving a party and taking off his clothes in the woods. However, he is actually describing the natural wonder that is the human body. He lays down the vivid, beautiful scenery in order to contrast the body. Even though this is an obviously perfect evening, the body of even an old man seems to transcend it suggesting just how amazing God's absolute creation is.

E = mc2 part deux

E is the son of the earth and sun
E produced when they become one
E creates life
E is energy
E is life

M are millions
M are billions
M is me and you
M is mass manifestation
M is existence

C is adrenaline
C reaches what can not be reached
C is transcends the transcendence
C is the light
C is omniscient

E= MC2

Life = the all knowing manifestation of existence
The lives of many,
Given for one,
The child which became the life,
That ended all and none,
Hiroshima, Nagasaki
Boom!

Transcendence transcended
Life return to where it ended
Infamy become fame,
Snow become rain,
America become Mexico,
Lake Michigan to Lake Tahoe,
Footsteps to crawl,
Hero to dreamer,

E=MC2

E = MC squared by David Bodanis

E= MC2 is one of the most famous equations of all time and this book makes its existence understandable and relative to every day life. When Albert Einstein came out with the this equation it was revolutionary because it linked mass and energy as just alternates of each other. They are interchangeable. E is energy, M is mass, C is the speed of light. In this way Bodanis displays how time is kept by the limitations of the speed of light. If one was able to exceed the speed the it waould result in time travel relative to how much faster the speed of light was exceeded.
Einstein might be its father but scientists such as Maxwell, Faraday, and Lavoisier also have contributed greatly to how the formula developed and its applications. The equation manifests as the life of each scientist who nurture it and develop it until it is fully "grown" in present day.
After David gives the formula life it shows how it became and infamous criminal through the retelling of a certain event in 1942. The equation becomes especially vital during the nuclear arms race of World War II. The equation leads to the nuclear bomb, which converts an ounce of the radioactiove elements plutonium or uranium an apacolyptic force that can engulf several miles. The formula killed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In an ironic twist of fate, the scientists prized child became a cold blooded murderer.