Jan Elaine Harris: Many Worlds Theory

Photo: Joanna C. Valente

Many Worlds Theory

There is a reality that we perceive

Then there is the limitation of our eyes

Things are only collections of measurements and outcomes in various situations

For example two possibilities are both real in two separate universes

Especially when observed by two isolated bystanders

There may be more than two observers

There may be as many universes as there are observers

Think of these universes as strings

Each universe a string running parallel to the other strings

Parallel strings avoiding intersection and entanglement

Until one string begins to wind itself around the others

Creating a proximity but not perhaps a cohesion

We can use this theory to provide a sort of explication

Our lives ran parallel until we met in the knot of disaster

Our intertwining presented two alternatives

A. to collapse everything and begin again

B. to recognize the limits of universes

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Jan Elaine Harris is an Associate Professor of English and Writing at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. Her chapbook, Isolating One’s Priorities, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in October 2021. Recent poems have appeared in The West Trade Review, HERWords, The Portland Review, Camas, The Rumpus, and The Exposition Journal. She lives in Nashville with her spouse and her two perfect GSPs, Malloy and Astrid-June.