New Issue: Orbital Catastrophe Ahead? Read Now

Poem: ‘The Scalar Nature of Snow’

Science in meter and verse

Snowflake.

Detached Retina Imaging Getty Images

Edited by Dava Sobel

elusive
if not rare.

there are always vectors
and other values


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


if not measured
at least felt or experienced

at the boundary of ground:
imbalance and, therefore, movement.

the creation comes, then
with the condition of height and time:

eight stories up
suspended in a moment

binary values
of ones and zeroes—

just snow
or not snow—

no vectors of momentum
or spin

no description of unique shape
or crystalline order

just points to move between
floating to observe

as picking through pond lilies
or stars in the winter sky

there or not there
in this moment

the scalar nature of snow

*No longer in print but will be reissued electronically in early 2022 and as part of a new volume, Hear Here: Selected Poems (LuLu).

Glenn R. McLaughlin is the 2013 Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He worked in the chemical industry for 30 years before becoming a teacher of high school chemistry and physics. His four self-published collections of poems and essays include Forms of Lectio,* which was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award in Poetry in 2009.

More by Glenn R. McLaughlin
Scientific American Magazine Vol 325 Issue 6This article was published with the title “The Scalar Nature of Snow” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 325 No. 6 (), p. 28
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1221-28

Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism

Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.

When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.

Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber

Thank you,

Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe