Magnificence
For Spike Walker, Photomicrographer
What jewelled gifts are these,
spliced and stacked on platters
of smeared glass?
A universe of micro.
You breathed life to mitre continents,
raised spikebergs of vitamin C.
Sulphur produced Marvel-ready
planets of purples and acid greens.
You stitched Persian carpets
and unfurled Flamenco hems.
Did you see the drystane dykes
on onion-skin cells,
the on-trend designs
in leaf scales with enough panache
to shame Liberty London?
You charted your own Discworld,
scratched films of ascorbic acid
to sign your science as art.
Moira McPartlin has five published novels. Her latest, Before Now, is written in Fife dialect. Moira was 2021 writing fellow at Hawthornden Castle and 2022 Federation of Writers (Scotland) Scriever. Her current project is about Scotland’s concrete viaducts.