LESSONS IN GRAPHITE

Oddly on one level it's stronger than a diamond.
In each plane there's a powerful hexagonal unity of carbons.
The diamond is made of the same citizenry,
the difference is in their histories,
for the carbons of graphite have yet to endure
what the carbons of diamonds endured,
a great crushing by all that surrounds them.
In graphite the weakness lies in depth,
no vertical loyalties so to speak,
no strong bonds between the upper and lower layers.
The layers are like easily shuffled playing cards.
They glide apart; they follow bets - go with the odds.
A flaky structure - graphite.
Good for only transient uses:
a channel for electrons,
a lubricant for the movement of more cohesive structures,
a pencil -
to record the dimensions of graphite's fundamental weakness,
or a history that's yet to be.

Richard Fein

If you've any comments on his poems, Richard Fein would be pleased to hear from you.