Three days later,
we bought a Newton’s cradle.
Put it on the table, and heartsick,
tried to click click click our way out of it.
But there are six strings missing,
a great big grin,
and a legendary faux fur coat.
There are two types of energy:
potential and kinetic.
One is energetic, inhabiting space.
One anticipates
velocity, force. It cannot be destroyed;
waits in the wings,
electricity intact
and it lives when we sing and remember.
Three days later,
we bought a Newton’s cradle.
Put it on the table, and heartsick,
tried to click click click our way out of it.
Then collision click clacked,
slowed to a tick,
to a whisper, to collective,
from kinetic to potential.
It’s said that friction robs the system of its energy,
but really, the universe desires to commune.
