The entropy of an isolated system not in equilibrium will tend to increase over time, approaching a maximum value at equilibrium.

— Rudolf Clausius, "The Second Law of Thermodynamics"

S = -k Σ [Pi log (Pi)]

—Ludwig Boltzman, A Mathematical Theory of Communication

Star trailsI'm teaching myself telekinesis.
In a dream, it works like this:
I move things because I want to.
I do it with electrons and orbits—
the spaces between, on principle.
Uncertainty matters: when things move
(and how fast) is the difference
between us. An incubus knows

the game: seeing what I'm not supposed to,
moving things ionically. It's attractive—
I keep seeing what I'm meant to repel, but
lodestones only shake one way.
Last night, lying still, I thought shoes at you,
and they curved north.

Language factors it—the good idea,
fouling cardinals, hours, minutes: the business
of clocks ticking distance. The mountain
at two fifteen never ends, and adding names
per second doesn't help—it's not supposed to.
There are dikes and flatlands, fjords at angles,
oceans nearby, and, of course, the shore.
The mountain has edges I'm supposed to see, but

it's better to think them into place. I'll borrow a mind
tonight—yours, perhaps, blink the way you do—
and wonder about names overlapping. I want
some time to slow down—a minute, maybe—
and remember.

Copyright © 2008, Darin C. Bradley

Image Credit: astazou/Damien Labat, some rights reserved

Darin C. Bradley holds an M.A. in Literary Theory and Ph.D. in Poetics. When not writing, designing covers, or pursuing independent scholarship, he edits fiction for both Farrago's Wainscot as well as the Chrysography Books imprint of Drollerie Press. Darin's creative work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Electric Velocipede, Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, Polyphony 6, 3:AM Magazine, and a number of others. His nonfiction has appeared in The Internet Review of Science Fiction, The Journal of the Fantastic and the Arts, Strange Horizons, and others. His first novel, Amaranth, is forthcoming from Bantam/Spectra. Find out more at www.darinbradley.com.