Quantum

Physiques

“Quantum Physics

allows for particles to be

in two states at the same time.”

I’ve never used 

the word quantum

in a sentence before,

but that didn’t stop it

from sprouting

fully formed,

regurgitated from

the quixotic frontier

of another 

night’s dream

like some rare

amphibious noun

washed up 

on the shore

of my bed.

Can you blame me

for wondering

where and why

this word had 

arrived?

Then again,

you may have

already gathered,

I’m an indefatigable

edge comber.

If sleep is

the land of aftermath

and repercussions,

the place where 

all things conspire

to assimilate,

then you’re

sure to find me

sitting at the foot

of my bed

imagining

my soul 

to be

the ghost

beneath 

the sheet.

Night is custodian,

coerced by

none other than

the chalk moon

 to wipe clean

another day’s slate

of uncatagorical 

ephemera;

seeing as

these artifacts are

the unfinished

business of

selfhood.

Like Dali,

I lift up

the edge of

the sea

to peer

at the stars.

Being that

we are not

our sole source

of volition,

you need only

consider 

the winds,

the currents,

the tides,

and

dreams…

crepuscular,

appearing

and disappearing,

strengthening

and atrophying

through a recurrence

of infinite forgetting.

If it’s evidence

you want,

then just look

how night emerges

undeterred

 from the confines

of the body’s 

compass

so that

when we wake

we might remember

the beauty

beneath

the waves.

Peter Valentyne

11/5/20