National Poetry Month: Science Edition
It’s National Poetry Month, so if you would like to explore poetry about science and take a break from the uncertainty of life living through COVID-19, then you have come to the right place. All of the poetry listed below relates to science, including biology, chemistry, earth & environmental sciences, mathematics, and physics and astronomy. If you know of science poems that we could add to our list, you are welcome to email your suggestions to lib-sciences@uiowa.edu.
- Amy Catanzano’s “World Lines: A Quantum Supercomputer Poem” https://physics.aps.org/articles/v11/103
- Roald Hoffmann’s “Fluorite” http://roaldhoffmann.com/sites/all/files/fluorite.pdf
- Daniel Halpern’s “Pandemania” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/56108/pandemania
- Miroslav Holub’s “Brief Reflection on Accuracy” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51041/brief-reflection-on-accuracy
- Sarah Howe’s “Relativity,” for Stephen Hawking https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/10/08/on-relativity/
- A. Van Jordan’s “The Flash Reverses Time” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52983/the-flash-reverses-time
- James Clerk Maxwell’s “To the Chief Musician upon Nabla: A Tyndallic Ode” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45778/to-the-chief-musician-upon-nabla-a-tyndallic-ode
- Langdon Smith’s “Poems of Evolution” https://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101072858507?urlappend=%3Bseq=5
- Juliana Spahr’s “If You Were a Bluebird” https://granta.com/if-you-were-a-bluebird/
- Maria Terrone’s “Madame Curie” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=170&issue=2&page=13
- Sallie Wolf’s “The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/91101/the-robin-makes-a-laughing-sound
The following poems and poetry collections require HawkID authentication:
- John Allman’s Curve away from stillness: science poems https://search.lib.uiowa.edu/permalink/f/9i2ftm/01IOWA_ALMA21304944470002771 (Hawkeyes can request a PDF of a book chapter)
- Philip Appleman’s Darwin’s ark: poems https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b4449534 (You must log in through the University of Iowa Libraries HathiTrust Emergency Access)
- Linda Bierds’ First hand: poems https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015060839589 (You must log in through the University of Iowa Libraries HathiTrust Emergency Access)
- Ron Louie’s “Handwashing 0347” https://login.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=https://jamanetwork-com.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/journals/jama/fullarticle/2685991?resultClick=1 (Requires HawkID login)
- Rick Mullin’s Sonnets from the Voyage of the Beagle https://search.lib.uiowa.edu/permalink/f/9i2ftm/01IOWA_ALMA21474189660002771 (Hawkeyes can request a PDF of a book chapter)
- Ruth Padel’s Darwin: a life in poems https://search.lib.uiowa.edu/permalink/f/9i2ftm/01IOWA_ALMA21323792310002771 (Hawkeyes can request a PDF of a book chapter)
- Peter Pereira’s Saying the world https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015060006569 (You must log in through the University of Iowa Libraries HathiTrust Emergency Access)
- Jack Ridl’s Broken symmetry https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015063360237 (You must log in through the University of Iowa Libraries HathiTrust Emergency Access)
If you need help accessing these books or finding other items in the UI Libraries collection, email us (lib-sciences@uiowa.edu) any time, or live chat (www.lib.uiowa.edu/sciences/contact/) with us Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 5 PM.