For each issue of The Differential, our Arts Editor will write a piece in a specific poetic form that reflects the themes, material, pathologies, and/or student maturity/mindset during the block that she experienced the previous year. All of these are abstract. Some of these are very abstract! But have no fear if you are no poetry connoisseur—there will be a brief explanation of the poem and the poetic form if you so desire; just click on the “References” button below.
Leading Strand, Lagging Strand
5’ All-ready to go. 3’ Tomorrow already came!
Got to catch Commencing another great
the current class Ambitious goal gladly.
and act cool. Time to go
Gracefully composed creature? comprehend general genetics.
Anticipating the crowd, Thinking about genes:
timidly asking to august, terrifying, amazing.
create connections and Growing giddy to
to gather acquaintances. 3’ ace coming test? 5’
‘References’:
Do you remember material from the first MBLD exam? Do you remember how excited, befuddled, and overwhelmed you felt for the first MBLD exam? Maybe this poem brings back bad memories, in which case, I apologize. But for most of you, I hope this brings back fond memories of basic genetics. There is no classical form for this poem. There is a structure: the lines are composed in codons—it’s not easy to write coherent sentences using only words that begin with T, A, G, or C! Bonus points for anyone who caught the start codon and end codon in the leading strand.