Photosynthesis & Respiration: Poems by Christopher Clauss

The thread running through this collection of poems is relationship, but many take a scientific perspective. In most ecological systems the process of photosynthesis is responsible for the creation of food from inorganic carbon dioxide and water, absorbing energy from the sun to fuel life on our planet. Respiration in living things does just the opposite, breaking down that food into its original components and releasing energy to power every life process in which we engage. The two processes function in tandem, intertwining in an elegant dance, depending on one another to keep us all alive, much like partners in a relationship. One could describe this collection as love poems about science or science poems about love. Either way, they bridge the gap between two marvelous phenomena, neither of which we will ever fully appreciate, and about which we still have so much to learn.