Complementarity
The pendulum is swinging back to its opposite.
The Yin dot in the Yang symbol
expands to be wholly Yin.
The Yang dot now enclosed in it,
the insidious voice whispers,
“It won’t hurt . . . ”
It whispers,
“Have lust one, you know you can take it or leave it.”
The pang in the heart pulls down the mouth’s corners.
Again.
Quantum complementarity confuses.
Particle or wave?
I no longer crave . . . . . . .
I will never . . . . . again
I’m so lucky.
Everything is perfectly satisfactory
Never even think of my departed lover.
I am very lucky.
It’s been quick and easy.
I have conquered desolation.
I’m so happy with him.
This time it’s going to last.
Do I detect a pendulum?
A wrinkle on his upper lip?
A sagging in his chin?
A brittle hacking laugh?
Do I hear his mouth splashing as he eats?
Don’t speak.
Every word is chalk screaking on my
blackboard nerves.
Don’t touch me.
Particle or wave?
I swerve off course.
As he comes closer
my Yang turns into Yin,
my pendulum swings,
my uncertainty lingers.
I am certain of that.
When we separate,
he becomes irresistible.
Wave and particle?
Bohr’s theory of complementarity shows how sub-atomic particles can be seen as either discrete particles or as part of a wave, a process. Each view is only partly correct and each has a limited range of application. Each version is needed to give a full description of atomic reality and has been likened by Bohr to the Eastern concept of polarities yin and yang.
Valerie Witonska lives in Greenwich and works as a psychotherapist. Her play, Ghost of the Gownshop, recently had a three-week run at the Camden People’s Theatre in London. She has just completed an MA in Creative Writing at Sussex University.
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