The Theory of Everything
“If we do discover a theory of everything…it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would truly know the mind of God.” — Stephen Hawking
A partial truth
is not a lie
or a single jigsaw
piece a falsehood
perhaps it’s just the way
Truth likes to play
coy at cards
and puzzles
the way for instance
winter’s first snow
stretches a blank canvas
across the landscape
of imagination
and lets experience
supply the paints
and memory the brushes
or the way sunlight
lengthens only
by degrees in spring
until the solstice comes
Early one evening
as Cambridge students strolled
from dormitories to dining halls
and crews rowed the Cam
it dawned on the esteemed
physicist that perhaps
we cannot in the end
know the mind of God
except to know
that the mind of God
is never made up
of finalities
I like to think it happened
during a game of cards
with Cambridge colleagues
and Newton’s ghost
when the first hand dealt
could not be gambled
and the ace and king
came only later
or maybe he saw Truth
as the real striptease act
bumping and grinding
down to its birthmark
but not all at once
not just yet
leaving something for a time
to the imagination
.
A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Michael Blanchard now lives in the Cadron Valley of Arkansas, where he is an adjunct professor of literature at the University of Central Arkansas. In addition to his teaching duties, he serves as editor of SLANT, the University’s international journal of contemporary poetry, and is an active member of the Poets’ Roundtable of Arkansas. Previous publications include four books of poetry, the most recent of which is The Pearl Diver’s Daughter & Other Poems (2023). A fifth book, The Things of This World, is scheduled for publication in early 2026.
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Stone Poetry Quarterly 