Entropy

Nicholas Hogg

You planted fruit trees in pots 

apple plum pear 
to see in the spring with blossom, 
and the promise of a crop 

where you sit with a book 

in the April sun, leaning on a wall that radiates 
heat 
like a fire in a hearth. 

Picture the roots in watered soil, expanding 

into dark. How the photons journey 
from a dying star, 
energise 

a leaf, illuminate a page. We read 

in haste, later, when the setting sun dips
and the flames 
expire.

The Science

The term entropy, in regard to the second law of thermodynamics, derives from the German translation of 'Verwandlungsinhalt,' meaning transformation content. Physicist Rudolf Clausius would later adapt this to entropy, a Greek word for transformation. The poem is inspired by the changing seasons, and the transfer of the sun's energy into fruit trees, and the pages of a book, which must be read by the dying light of the setting sun.

The Poet

Nicholas Hogg is the author of A Sacrifice, inspiration for the Ridley Scott film starring Eric Bana and Sadie Sink. Winner of the Gregory O'Donoghue and Liverpool poetry prizes, his poems have featured in The Guardian, Poetry Ireland, and the London Magazine. He has work forthcoming in the Poetry Is Not a Luxury anthology, featuring Nikki Giovanni, Victoria Chang, and Ada Limón. Missing Person, his debut collection, is published by Broken Sleep Books.

Next poem: Fire Weather by Barbara E. Hunt