Enso (for Stevie)

Alan Garrigan

Everything moves nothing at rest
Transcending life and all atomic certainty
Humankind searching through the sacred terminus of forever
Homo sapiens will be vanquished and overcome

Cause and effect: everything happens according to law 

Yet heaven is constant in its ways 
Oceanic exoplanets will sustain organic life 
The stellar parallax when the sun flips its axis 
As in Mercury once again darkens in retrograde

 Correspondence: As above so beyond 

The Greco-Roman panoptic of the universe 
Convenes the Metastable equilibrium of orthodoxy 
As in Thaumaturgy and the coincidence of oppositions 

Polarity: As above so below 

The immaculate intensity of all energies 
Glamorgan tooth surviving a coldblooded earth 
The curious fact that we evolved from Synapsids 
Neanderthal preserved in Sino-Caucazoid chondriosomes 

Mentalism: The ‘All’ is mind: the universe is mental

The Science

The science behind this poem has to do with the mysterious void of quantum science and chaos theory as posited by acclaimed scientists such as Heisenberg and Lorenz. There is so much we do not know, despite the fantastic achievements of science. Ancient hermetic concepts such as Henosis and Entratiodromia are evoked from the theories of Carl Jung, Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell. These ideas, like ideas such as quantum entanglement, sit on the boundary of science. This poem is about traversing knowable as well as unknown realms, seeking to bind man’s ancient primordial sense with his modern rational self. This poem may be of interest to a researcher in the natural or physical sciences, who must understand the earth and develop meticulously formulated scientific hypotheses. Such individuals must work tirelessly to enhance human understanding and so, in turn, may be able to represent some of the lofty ideas projected in this short poem.

The Poet

Alan Garrigan is a 2021 MA graduate from Ireland (UCD) and has been previously published in some small print and online poetry publications and journals. These include the tentatively titled LGBTQI 2021 anthology, Peace in the Valley. Alan is a former EFL teacher and avid fan of avant-garde, conceptual text, and ecopoetry. Philosophical poetry is an area of particular interest to him. He has written a 20,000-word thesis on poetry. In his spare time, he likes to keep fit, as well as write lyrics and songs.

Next poem: Et in Arcadia Ego by Emryse Geye