I’m nowhere near an expert
but as I understand it a graviton
is tinier than the tiniest particle
and no one’s ever seen it but
for the theory to work it must exist
and combine with other gravitons
to make gravity strong enough
to stop us flying off in all directions
because there’s nothing
to keep us grounded. Scientists
used to think that to prove
a graviton you would need
a machine about the size of Neptune
with something else equally
impossible in close proximity
but now they think they can do it
with a biscuit and a lump of cheese
in the pantry under the staircase
where I used to live in Arthur
Street opposite the Providence
where both my parents worked
until they closed it on the grounds
of economics. A lack of orders
and the rationalisation of production
into one larger all-encompassing
mill which combined everything
in one location and demolished it
and used the brick as aggregate
for the motorway they were
building as a bypass to the city
where bankers make decisions
so high above the ground you cannot
hope to see them even with binoculars
.
Steven Taylor
.