Robert Vas Dias
JACK LAMENTS HIS GRADUAL DECLINE
(with Entropic Commentary)
Two dangers constantly threaten the world: order and disorder.
Paul Valéry
I think of broken
appliances, holes in
the roof, rats under
the stairs, decrepitude
As usable energy is irretrievably lost, disorganization, randomness and chaos increase.
I had to miss the plane
you had to fly off
by yourself because I'd left
my passport in the fridge
As a system advances through time, it will statistically become more disordered.
if only I had... done...
been... known... the
saddest words in the language
other than crème brûlée
Anticipating the unknown forms the psychological future which always seems to be something one is moving towards but, like a projection in a mirror, it makes what is actually already a part of memory, such as desires, dreams, and hopes, seem ahead of the observer.
I'm sorry I missed your crucial
phonecall because instead of
the mobile I answered
the TV remote
The overall energy relations of the entire solar system are in accord with the second law of thermodynamics, with the overall system continually becoming more and more random.
I'm sorry I mistook
the dog food in the fridge
for the hamburger you left me
it tasted horsey
Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse; Murphy's Law is an inescapable consequence of the principle of entropy.
memory's but a trace element
of brain's sparkling past,
penis a dottle wretchcock
of its former perkish grig
Anything that can go wrong not only will go wrong, it must go wrong, as decreed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
forget running, jumping,
walking's now a chore,
knee disintegrates
into meniscus remnants
Entropy is a measure of the degree to which energy has lost the capacity to perform useful work.
saving envelopes, bubblewrap,
rubber bands, unfranked stamps,
and boxes is not only a slap in the face
of the capitalist system, it is also sensible
Discards can be recycled only by the expenditure of additional energy and at the expense of increasing the entropy of the universe as a whole.
my eye lenses cloud, blur,
and mist, intraocular plastic
lenses now part of me,
likewise plastic gnashers
The problem is that the Second Law has a tendency to interfere with our happiness because it has a pervasive, pernicious effect on our lives.
my belief in nostrums,
unguents, vitamins, panaceas,
elixirs and snake oil
is the first step to immortality
Entropy may be one of the few processes that is not time-reversible.
I'm sorry I reversed
the car over the cat
I do recall wondering
why the brakes were squealing
The universe's expansion may be linked to the thermodynamic arrow, with the universe heading towards heat death (Big Chill) as the amount of usable energy becomes negligible.
Jack added that he'd read: The question remains whether resilience can be
operationalized and taught to older stressed individuals and whether any
interventions exist that boost resilience to stress and life’s adversities.*
Jack rather doubts it.
___________________
* Helen Lavretsky, MD, MS, “Geriatric Psychiatry: Part 2, Resilience, Stress, and the Neurobiology of Aging,” Psychiatric Times, 2010; 27.
(with Entropic Commentary)
Two dangers constantly threaten the world: order and disorder.
Paul Valéry
I think of broken
appliances, holes in
the roof, rats under
the stairs, decrepitude
As usable energy is irretrievably lost, disorganization, randomness and chaos increase.
I had to miss the plane
you had to fly off
by yourself because I'd left
my passport in the fridge
As a system advances through time, it will statistically become more disordered.
if only I had... done...
been... known... the
saddest words in the language
other than crème brûlée
Anticipating the unknown forms the psychological future which always seems to be something one is moving towards but, like a projection in a mirror, it makes what is actually already a part of memory, such as desires, dreams, and hopes, seem ahead of the observer.
I'm sorry I missed your crucial
phonecall because instead of
the mobile I answered
the TV remote
The overall energy relations of the entire solar system are in accord with the second law of thermodynamics, with the overall system continually becoming more and more random.
I'm sorry I mistook
the dog food in the fridge
for the hamburger you left me
it tasted horsey
Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse; Murphy's Law is an inescapable consequence of the principle of entropy.
memory's but a trace element
of brain's sparkling past,
penis a dottle wretchcock
of its former perkish grig
Anything that can go wrong not only will go wrong, it must go wrong, as decreed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
forget running, jumping,
walking's now a chore,
knee disintegrates
into meniscus remnants
Entropy is a measure of the degree to which energy has lost the capacity to perform useful work.
saving envelopes, bubblewrap,
rubber bands, unfranked stamps,
and boxes is not only a slap in the face
of the capitalist system, it is also sensible
Discards can be recycled only by the expenditure of additional energy and at the expense of increasing the entropy of the universe as a whole.
my eye lenses cloud, blur,
and mist, intraocular plastic
lenses now part of me,
likewise plastic gnashers
The problem is that the Second Law has a tendency to interfere with our happiness because it has a pervasive, pernicious effect on our lives.
my belief in nostrums,
unguents, vitamins, panaceas,
elixirs and snake oil
is the first step to immortality
Entropy may be one of the few processes that is not time-reversible.
I'm sorry I reversed
the car over the cat
I do recall wondering
why the brakes were squealing
The universe's expansion may be linked to the thermodynamic arrow, with the universe heading towards heat death (Big Chill) as the amount of usable energy becomes negligible.
Jack added that he'd read: The question remains whether resilience can be
operationalized and taught to older stressed individuals and whether any
interventions exist that boost resilience to stress and life’s adversities.*
Jack rather doubts it.
___________________
* Helen Lavretsky, MD, MS, “Geriatric Psychiatry: Part 2, Resilience, Stress, and the Neurobiology of Aging,” Psychiatric Times, 2010; 27.
© Copyright Robert Vas Dias 2020
Robert Vas Dias has published 17 collections in the UK and US, the latest of which is Poetics of Still Life: A Collage (Permanent Press). His poems and prose poems have appeared in many magazines and journals including Ambit, Encounter, Poetry Review, Stand, and The Warwick Review in the UK, and The Nation, The New Yorker, Partisan Review, and Poetry (Chicago) in the US. Robert Hampson’s interview with him will appear as an ebook on The Argotist Online. "Jack Laments his Gradual Decline” is part of an ongoing series, Jack Talking.
