Chromosome One

Caspar Wort

Great news
Great news
The genome is known
Already we are aware of our ignorance

Code my body
Code my brain
Code who I am
To define my existence
Cauterise the existential
Anxiety, enter the genetic circus,
Guess the effects of
Chromosome juggling,
Conclude that we still
Genius though we are
Generate new forms of ignorance

Code body
Code brain
Code me
Get distracted
Code body
Code brain
Code me
Get confused
Code
Code
Code
Generate knowledge
Generate ignorance
Generate confusion

Today, Dolly is
Cloned again
Today, we select
Gametes like an
A-la-carte dinner choice
Choose the one with the strongest leucocytes
Choose the one with the bluest eyes
Then let nature take the wheel with
Generous helpings of choice
Again we see mutations
Generate evolution
Generate revolution
And we conclude
Genomes are mapped
And Mr Ian Vitro
Always knows what he is
Coded

Time to start
Generate knowledge
Time to stop
Generate ignorance
Code
Time
Code
Code
Generate
Codes
Conclude

Time for bed
Tiny changes
Change the world
Alleles for eye colour
Guess how many bases in the gene
And lose yourself
Grazing libraries of
Thymine
Adenine
Cytosine and Guanine
Completely forgetting Uracil
Anyway, we’ll get to that
Cut dissected
Coded by the proteins
Generated from
Ancient primordial soups

Alleles compete
Always a victor
Then mutate
Change what you are
Then fin becomes foot
Get to dry land
Then evolve again
Get thumbs
Create tools
And then society
Get angry at your neighbour
And go to war
Get defeated
Gain victory
And try again
Culture yourself
And tame yourself
And grow
Continue to evolve
Generate knowledge
Cycle round

And find the turn of a millennium
Guided by
Chemicals
That
Code 

The Science

Is there anything in nature better at regeneration than genes? Life as we know it cannot exist without DNA, RNA, and associated molecules. This is why I wrote this poem, which is modelled on a section of genetic sequence from human chromosome one as coded in the Human Genome Project, with each line starting with a letter (A,T, G, or C) denoting the next base in the chromosome. 

The Poet

Caspar Wort is a poet from Essex in the UK. He has had a lifelong interest in science, but has not pursued it as a career, instead choosing to write. He has completed a BA in English and Drama and an MA in Creative Writing from Loughborough University. His poems appear in Ink Sweat and Tears and Magma 84: Physics.

Next poem: Cold, Cold Case by S. T. Eleu