By Noel Ihebuzor and Susan Daniels
We drift in habitual wobbling circles
hobbling like feet poorly cobbled, feeling
neither earth nor one another, stranded
arid motion free stretch of ever elongating slippery
quicksand highway, without grip or traction
Smiles stiff and still
not sparking eyes, sparkleless
exhausted, shambling, soulless routines once so fresh
now stale, sour, and old
constant motion long past dancing
Radius, diameter and circumference in grating logic
circling each other in yawning cycles
We roll unresisting into a heavy, unpiloted slide
remaining in these present states easier
as with each change comes resistance
which must be swept across
or persuaded into action
what is held still craves flow,
though frozen and powerless
to break old bindings
and change direction
We shuffle limp on a limping highway
limp unable to rise nor flow, trudging on a treadmill
threadbare, going nowhere
The mournful sky wraps above and around us
mourning our uninspired mornings
soggy flat in colorless monochrome
borderless without hope, our soulless soles
burdened, weighty and weighed down
at the border of the deadening present and a feared future
Eager to depart, move on and move apart
and resist its own yearning,
and though we have breath and pulse, we lie inert
The half-life of what lived long past
in search of direction,
going nowhere, unable to live
unwilling to leave
Habit a tripwire trapping our feet,
a seething past that teemed,
boiling over, over-run with energy heaves,
now idles
empty of steam and wind
With no wand to wave to will us forward
we live as hollow shells
in endless cycles of repetitions
that weep and
wait for that external force to move us
either backwards or forward,
to push us on or push us over Inertia
***While a pleasure, as always, to write with Noel, I can’t wait to move on to more dynamic physical concepts in this series we are working on 🙂
Again, Noel’s voice is not italicized, mine is.
Susan Daniels Poetry 
Singing this duet on Inertia with Susan was challenging and rewarding at the same time. How do two voices two continents apart sing of a concept that has remained central to physics since Newton and give it life and movement given that the concept in question has at its heart an inability for internally determined change/movement?
In overcoming our individual inertias and then moving our minds to explore and our voices to merge and blend, we have been able to come up with a duet with feeling and movement – something that I find very rewarding!
Well said my friend–and well done! And, despite the challenges, it certainly was well worth the forehead banging against the keyboard! Oh–I was supposed to use my fingers? Now you tell me!
The half-life of what lived long past
in search of direction,
going nowhere, unable to live
unwilling to leave
Habit a tripwire trapping our feet,
a seething past that teemed,
boiling over, over-run with energy heaves,
now idles
empty of steam and wind
Such a strong sense of ‘knowing’ here. such a lonely state and helpless feeling. could easily get lost and stuck. settle for nothing while yearning for all. not good!
This is so very good you two. Only wish the feelings evoked were imagination and not real. Makes one really look at one’s life…hard to face the truth so directly and not strive to move.
So, I look at this as very motivational.
Funny you should say that, Rhonda–me too. sometimes it is not comfortable to look at life with keen eyes; but it is necessary. Says one who had blinders on too long!
Yes…blinders are a bugger. And like mosquitoes….useless, life-blood sucking, tools of resistance! Blinders off…eyes open…feet moving forward, ever forward. 🙂 Thanks friend
Too true!
Move on, move away~ excellent simplicity that has much more left unsaid~ Superior !
Thanks so much–my lab partner has a wonderful way with words…
co-inspiration, mutual reinforcement and particle physics…..:-)
🙂
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