John Anderson Poet Concrete

Notes About The Poem

As one goes "forward" in time, the second law of thermodynamics says, the entropy of an isolated system can increase, but not decrease. Hence, from one perspective, entropy measurement is a way of distinguishing the past from the future. the second law of thermodynamics says that entropy always increases with time. As time increases, so does entropy, the two in concert entwined.

Listen to poem:

Entropy's Hourglass

Sand falls silently and relentlessly in a steady steam
from the top bulb to bottom bulb through hourglass neck.
Sand grains tick the seconds away as they flow,
forming an inverted cone-shaped pile.
Excess tumbling down the sides
of the sand hill below.
A gaggle of grains
disordered
in time
pause
waiting
for flip-overs 
to flow in reverse
back to whence they came.
An endless cycle of flip flops
marking the passage of time when
time began with the big bang explosion
when order in the singularity was maximal.
Extreme order shattered in a surge towards more disorder,
with time, the marker of endless fate to increase entropy.

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