Poet-in-residence - And Breathe

'Venter Institute scientists have created
the first synthetic bacterial genome.'

As the scientist's apprentice
draws his hand back from the dish
the harsh strip-lighting announces
every shadow in every crevice.

His fingers retract from the act,
retreat towards his body, while his lungs
lift and fall unnoticed – their own miracle
of engineering a fact too far for the physician

who the next day will photograph
and hang them on the wall and point
here is a defect, and here while shock
fixes the face of the scientist’s apprentice

breathing in daily who knows what
life rising from the dish.

By Heidi Williamson, our poet-in-residence.

This poem was inspired by the Extreme Tourism event in July 2008.