The Boundaries of Materials

These are the essential building blocks of life

And non-life

Materials that are imbued

With barely believable features,

Pushing beyond limits that others

Define as traditional.

Following pathways of conservation

And least resistance,

Their dynamic, vibrant features

Slowly begin to emerge:

Stiffening,

Softening,

Healing,

Radiating light,

Resisting translucency.

These are the molecular manipulations that we

Must strain to stimulate,

Embracing entropy with every unformed idea,

Every swirl of caffeine,

Every shattered dream.

We race to create an elixir of life;

Designer macromolecules

That extend their existence

Beyond the blink of an eye,

Radically tricking their termination

To bind their ions and bend their chains.

And yet,

As we enter into the second century of our co-existence

We are still to reach the sophistication of nature;

A macromolecular nirvana where  

Environmentally friendly, oxygen-tolerant,

And easier to use materials cast off the

Diabolical characteristics of their surfaces,

To finally embrace their borders

With our external world.