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Open Books: Event Archive
June 01, 2005 07:30 PM
LINDA BIERDS
"They darken," are the first words in Ms. Bierds's new book, First
Hand, a quietly ominous sentence that begins her exploration of the
scientist's desire to know the world. While the collection spans
millennia -- from Archimedes to James Watson -- its central voice is that of
Gregor Mendel, the 19th century monk famous for his hybridization of peas.
The poems clearly embrace science and show it as a potentially spiritual
pursuit -- "How in light of Creation's complexity, could devotion / stand
free from inquiry, vast love from articulation?" But they also raise concern
about what doors have been opened (as the author's note points out, Mendel's
work foreshadowed genetic cloning). All this is engagingly rendered through
Ms. Bierds's impressive poetic gift and keen reasoning.
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