Three by Jessy Randall



Art by Laura Redburn

Wang Zhenyi (1769-1797)

Come to the garden with me
and sit in the pavilion.
Imagine the table is the earth;
this crystal lamp the sun;
this round mirror the moon.

No, we’re not doing astrology.
We’re not playing a game.

You will hear my theories
on eclipses, the shape of the earth,
and why we stay on when the planet spins.

Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997)

I upended
the law
of parity:

mirror opposites
only sometimes
behave in
identical ways.

Not always.
Not never.

Only sometimes.

James Miranda Barry / Margaret Ann Bulkley (ca. 1789-1865)

Things would be so much easier
if I had a husband. The cuff-links
do me in every time. Had I
a husband, or a wife – a wife! – dressing
like a man each morning would be
less of a chore. With a wife on my arm,
I might not get called a sissy. Or, if a husband,
we’d be two fellows about town,
smoking and telling crude jokes.

The secret of me: I’ll keep it ’til death.
I’ll try to keep it even longer,
with careful instructions, but
words will fail me and I’ll be found out.

 

Jessy Randall at EIL 

Jessy Randall: Women in Math and Science at EIL

Jessy Randall: Women in STEM Project

Jessy Randall in Labor Day 2019 at EIL

Jessy Randall in Mother’s Day 2020 at EIL

James Barry (born Margaret Ann Bulkley) at Wikipedia

 

More Art by Laura Redburn

 




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