At the March slam, the shy poet-physicists divided into groups, each writing one line of a limerick before passing it off for the next group to compose the next line. This communal limericking resulted in mostly nonsense, but one poem survived the activity:
A physicist aptly named Bohr
Gave lectures that made people snohr.
They never could stomach
His models atomic
As no one knew what they were fohr.
But the apparently boring Bohr was not the only inspiration for the poetry; textbooks were also a popular source. “Griffiths was a particularly popular author,” observes SPS President Craig L. Hetherington ’03.
Though some SPS members characterized the poetry at the slam as “pretty lame,” it was a bona fide excuse to get their artistic juices flowing. The SPS officers, who hope to make the poetry slam an annual event, promise better food next time.