Three-Toed Sloth

"Tie this to your lanyard, Billy Collins"

Let us cleanse the palate after that last unpleasant announcement. My brother Aryaman (the talented one) writes: "A colleague of mine who is interested in pursuing science education after her PhD was directed to a collection of (I think apocryphal) answers to science questions from 5th and 6th graders in Japan. I noticed many of them were almost little haikus. So I took the time to work some into form..."

Ichi.
Broke up molecules,
stuffed with atoms. Broke atoms,
stuffed with explosions

Ni.
People run around
in circles they are crazy.
But planets orbit.

San.
Our sun is a star.
But it changes back to a
Sun in the daytime.

Shi.
A vibration is
motion that cannot decide
which way it should go.

Go.
Some know the time by
looking at the sun. I can't
make out the numbers

Roku.
To some, solutions
are answers. To chemists they
are still all mixed up.

Shichi.
Humidity: when
you are looking for some air
but finding water.

Hachi.
It is so hot some
places that the people there
have to live elsewhere.

Kyuu.
Clouds circling the earth
round and round and round. There is
not much else to do.

Jyuu.
Evaporation
is blamed when people forget
to put the top on.

Jyuu ichi.
Vacuums are nothings.
We mention them to let them
know we know they're there.

Jyuu ni.
Some past animals
became fossils while others
prefer to be oil.

Jyuu san.
Cyanide is this
bad: one drop in a dog's tongue
kills the strongest man

Jyuu shi.
Law of gravity
says no jumping up unless
you will come back down.

Jyuu go.
Genetics explain
why you look like your father
or why you might not.

Jyuu roku.
South America
cold summers and hot winters;
somehow they manage.

What is it with biologists and poetry anyway?

The Commonwealth of Letters