The Scientist
She initiates inverse palmar
and flings her spoon from the tray.
It falls to the floor. She hears the sound.
Highchair hypothesis: things go down.
The Big Ones reach down and return
the spoon to her. She drops again.
The spoon comes back. She drops again
and shrieks a laugh. She drops again.
Each variable—carrot, cup, small bear–
is returned. Milk One and No-milk One
both demonstrate this behavior—
analysis ongoing. Current conclusion:
people and things must be permanent
objects.
She sits, pushing at the boundaries
replicably, scraping away the fog
with a little light at a time—
the world mostly falls
and things fall into place.
Matthew Moniz recently received his PhD in poetry from the University of Southern Mississippi. Originally from the DC area, he holds an MFA and MA from McNeese State University and a BA from Notre Dame. Among other national and international journals, Matt’s work has appeared in or is forthcoming from The Iowa Review, Crab Orchard Review, Meridian, Tupelo Quarterly, Fourteen Hills, and minnesota review. He has been awarded Poetry by the Sea’s Kim Bridgford Memorial Sonnet Crown Contest prize and the SCMLA Poetry Prize and grown in workshops with Tin House and the Community of Writers.