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Child’s Play

David F Williams, PhD, DSc, FREng, FLSW
Author, Scientist & Consultant

I find it difficult to write poetically about science; it is possible to write some good lines but to retain meaning is not easy. This poem is about stem cells, describing them in terms and objects that should be familiar, especially to those who live in our area.

Child’s Play

Take a clear sandwich bag
From Trader Joe’s
Place inside a mesh of linguine
Cooked to softly perfection in Toscana
Surround by vanilla jello
From Harris Teeter
Mix in a concoction of drugs
Prescription serviced by CVS
Add health supplements
Wisely obtained at Whole Foods
Delicately place in the middle, one soft egg yolk
Infuse with vitamin pills
Sourced carefully online

Now, since this is child’s play
Get little, very little, candies
From Walgreens
Place them in the saved egg white
And paste this on the
Outside of the bag
Conjure up some Atala magic
Infuse energy
Just a little oxygen
It gets smaller and smaller
The mimicry of life
In fact, the origin of the species
The cellular stem of living

Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, April 2014

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