Poem: ‘An Ars Poetica

Science in meter and verse

Illustration of a puffer fish swimming in the ocean

Masha Foya

Edited by Dava Sobel

It, too, will be swept away,
 but for now on the seabed
the humble Japanese pufferfish
 is creating something
grander than he is alone.

 Much as a Tibetan
artist taps his wand to release
 a fine stream of sand,
he brushes his fins along the ocean floor
 to shift the ancient grains,


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stirring up enough dust
 for him to vanish
into its clouds, this creature
 that’s not much to look at anyway.
Seemingly unremarkable

 apart from his labor,
he toils for a week of days and nights
 to perfect a shape as symmetrical
as the rose window it resembles.
 If that weren’t enough,

before finishing,
 with the skill of someone
threading sequins on lace,
 he’ll adorn his tracery with seashells,
and swish, swish,

 is that a faint signature of fin prints
he’s left on his masterpiece?
 Few of us could fail to understand
his loneliness, his longing to be seen,
 if only by a she-fish

that comes and goes.
 Oh love, that imperfect art
that accompanies us in the depths.
 How dark it would be otherwise,
how cold this far under.

Allison Funk often touches on science themes in her six poetry collections, including Wonder Rooms (2015) and The Visible Woman (2021), both published by Parlor Press. “An Ars Poetica” will appear in a volume of her new and selected poems supported by a recent fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

More by Allison Funk
Scientific American Magazine Vol 331 Issue 1This article was originally published with the title “An Ars Poetica” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 331 No. 1 (), p. 97
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican072024-3pyB1odvSSb1sRjx6lR0bE