The Uncertainty Principle

by Mukund Gnanadesikan

What you or I believe

Must not always be true

A product of cerebrum chained

To cinderblocks of eye and ear

Souls that wish to fly

Are weighted down by those

Afraid of curiosity

But do not falter. Wander steadily.

Quest in dimmest caves

For treasures soon to be displaced

Or decorated

With sun-burnished tapestries

It must be true

That all words link together

Though mental bagpipes

Play silently

Do not accept the status quo

But ask, and get your answers

Why?

Most human of all ideas

No answer is forthcoming

Shout at the canyon walls

Satisfaction will elude us

A smoky wraith vanishing.

Mukund Gnanadesikan’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Adelaide Literary Magazine, The Ibis Head Review, Tuck Magazine, The Bangalore Review, Bloodroot Literary Magazine, Blood and Thunder: Musings on the Art of Medicine, Tanka Journal, Junto Magazine, Cathexis Northwest, Duck Lake Books, Literary Yard, Calliope and The Cape Rock. He is also awaiting the release of his first novel, Errors of Omission, due out in fall of 2020. When not perched behind his laptop, Mukund is a child and adolescent psychiatrist.