Mixing and measuring feeding my imagination
To engage my stomach.
Oil and onion, rice and red wine
In precise controlled amounts
Jump on the scale.
Unexpected and imaginary Ingredients
join together into a delicate fairy flavour
That diffuses from a steaming Calderon
In my kitchen on Sunday.
By the lake
Searching for peace away from the lab
I scan through beaches and lakes
Enjoying a chilly beer and a warm cake.
Will I bring this calmness to my bench on Monday?
Sleep
Sleep is missing
Today
From my toolkit.
I will battle and review
from a superficial balcony
Today.
Few tiny hairy roots
Will hold me down
Today.
Escape
A punch in the stomach and the will to run away,
Is one of those sunny wavy beaches a good enough registration
To survive this discussion?
Squeezing my forehead,
Sweating and breathing
Forcibly naturally,
I let imagination take me away
But not each time a remote beach is enough.
Lonely
The dark and silent corridor tells me I should not be here,
the lab is no place for night-owls and lays traps on your way.
My samples are ready and biology does not wait
for a sunny day or a cheerful colleagues to be present.
I take my numbers, throw my work once it’s done,
and head to the starry outside where lonely I head home
full of energy and grateful.
Time to go back
I sense the energy of the past shining behind my shoulders,
How it faded away is still a mystery
But I see fake smiles and manipulations
Putting sand on the flame.
Can I revive it? How to empower it to take over my life?
Slowly and steadily, on a steep solitary road
It will find its voice, my voice
And it will shout fearless and clear
As on a wooden stage.
Enzymes matter
It is just a beautiful day
To connect formulas and overlap graphs.
A freezer with dormant enzymes wait for me
To make the magic begin
And portray them in action
Whole binding molecules, while extracting electrons
While releasing the novelty they produce
In the world.
Relentless hunt
I’ll carry my grey face to bench
Also today
And perform the magic of mixing and tapping
That took me so many years to learn.
With careless attention I’ll draw schemes and note digits down
Waiting to connect the dots
and disclose the hidden figure.
Nerves
Droplets of water take me and my nerves to work
On a day full of expectations.
What I think and what will be asked fuse
In a tiny dense Black cloud
I cannot easily blow away.
The whole day will be needed.
Waiting
The waiting enters my mood and takes my patience down the road,
Still and covered of leaves they will find me waiting,
Surrounded by the colours of the fall they will hardly see me
And everybody will have forgotten my purpose in the lab.
Laccase
Transparent liquids turn vivid
And solid materials dissolve
Under the touch of a tiny enzyme
Armed with its powerful yet lonely ions.
Generosity for free
You beg for help,
Your questioning face demands my support
But no please our compliment leaves your mouth,
Hope desperate are you?
How deep is the water you are in?
Is there really no exit in your labyrinth?
I doubt.
I move my hand,
Activate my brain searching for answer
With no value to me.
Here they are to make me feel good about myself and reminds me of my spark.
But You are so small that do not appreciate, you can’t see the effort and the generosity.
How sad is this
How sad for you.
Colour
Add, mix, vortex,
Label and colour-code not to forget
Where the value is.
Time for preparation will pay off
When the colour will change
Or our bubbles rise.
Digging
In a perpetual race
I dig my memories and my dogmas
Looking for the spark that takes me forward
Shedding light on my new path
And new discoveries.
Unique
Here you are pretty protein
Whose colourless nature
Hides its unique activity.
Water of unsuspected value
Filled with thoughtful care and
Fruit of a winding and windy treasure hunt.
I found you when hope had left
And so many people
As a personal gift of nature.
Heat
Dancing to the beat
I move from sample to sample
With sparkling enzymes cheering for me.
Reacting to the heat
I collect data and errors
Leaving fire and sparks behind me.
Silence
Your silence kills me
And amplifies your expectations in my head
How to think of something cheerful
When everything is wet and sticky?
I will write, I will sing and I smile but not for you.
Blackbird
Head down I run, mumbling numbers and dreaming a future of independence I hold my breath and smile. I know it is not forever and each sigh is crucial. I will, I'll do, they'll do, I'll go.
Safety Rules
The rules of the lab
Don’t apply to life.
I wish there would be safety rules to be enforced
And safety goggles not to see sadness.
I would wear my white coat
And have no fear.
Unluckily not,
You have to figure out the rules
And play your unique game.
Escape
Fast On the train
I escape the lab and find nature.
Sunlight, breeze and spark colours
Tickle my imagination and my dormant rationality.
Explore
You tell me to stop and focus,
To find the core of my research
And its unique settling point.
I am shocked and started at the million usp I see worthy time and money
In front of me.
Why don’t you see it?
Explore
You tell me to stop and focus,
To find the core of my research
And its unique settling point.
I am shocked and started at the million usp I see worthy time and money
In front of me.
Why don’t you see it?
Everyday lab
Between uncertainties and errors
I draw my line and lay my questions
While I wait for the eureka
And sigh at the bench.
Solute
The feeling of loss,
Dissolved in water,
Turbulent worthless water
Produces richness and value
In my little salty being.
Affinity
Stick to me because of nature,
Years passed and we grew together,
Always more compatible.
My little hands recognize you,
Refusing the others
While we give life to a new superior entity.
Reacting
Give me oxygen, I cannot breath
Shake me more, shake me faster
Here you are little molecule
I found you.
Precision
On the edge of micrograms
I observe this world
And wonder what matters,
What makes a difference.
Laccase me
Thinking blue, thinking copper,
I sink in rings and oxygen bubbles.
How to describe perfect coordination?
Little hands hold the ion,
Tiny rings lay in you,
And magic happens.
Rationale
A life of rationality is laid by straight questions and sharp answers.
All is planned and the future holds no secret,
For those who live in the lab.
Poked by freedom and creativity,
We follow our instinct and vague experience,
To lift the carpet of discoveries.
Dissemination
Spot the top taste,
Divide the deluding dichotomies,
To tell a tale of lucid technology.
Welcome the reader, put your tools on the table,
and paint your discoveries with only straight lines and rigid angles.
They will read it, they will reason it,
It will happen.
Struggle is my name
Words that tell the truth
But they are not complete
Fall unheard by the students.
Correlations with no soul
Align to my desire.
What is true, what is real?
I open my eyes and become aware
Of value and significance.
Alone in the lab
Stars outside sneak through the blinds
Curious of my flame.
Frenetic and yawning I focus
On the fire and on my hands.
Tiptoeing among the tubes
Double thinking all my movements
Rejecting sleep and doubts
I slowly proceed.
Colony picking
Rescue me from a world of mutants,
you don’t see my beauty and my uniqueness.
Filled with potential here I lie.
On the way to the lab
The sun is shy today
And clouds seem to buffer
The full potential of a day in the lab.
Trepidation takes me there,
Expectations drive my walk to the bench,
Reasoning on unheard hypotheses
Excites my ego and hurries my hands.
