Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 January 24

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January 24

Looking for a poem

There is a poem. I believe it was written by a US Poet Laureate, but I don't know which one, and maybe it wasn't. Its a poem about science, evolution, it might refer to us all being 'stardust'. Its very much like the lyrics to the Big Bang Theory theme song. I think there are dinosaurs and pyramids. Near the end there are Beatles lyrics adapted from I am the Walrus...I am he as you are he as you are we - but the poem might have changed those a little bit. I just haven't figure out how to google it up. Can anyone help me find this poem, its very cool. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A447:A6CD:1:6196:6752:2EFF:7A08 (talk) 08:09, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Maybe the poem stardust by San Francisco Poet Laureate Devorah Major, which you can hear her reading here (English text at the end; I recommend reading the text while listening, as the musical accompaniment may occasionally hamper hearing the words). No Walrus references were spotted in the text, though,  --Lambiam 09:50, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Hi, thanks Lambiam.That is a beautiful poem indeed, but not the one I'm looking for. I'm 99% sure the poet of the one I want is a man. The poem is similar, but longer, and crafted to be funny. And it definitely has the Walrus lyrics at the end. Still hoping someone can point me there... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A447:A6CD:1:6196:6752:2EFF:7A08 (talk) 11:00, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

How about We Are All Made of Stars by Sam Illingworth? The beginning is very reminiscent of the BBT opening theme: 13.8 billion years ago the universe EXPLODED into life / Cutting through space time like a celestial knife and so on. Matt Deres (talk) 16:56, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Hi, thanks Matt. Another cool and beautiful poem, and still not the one I'm looking for. But its a poem like that one. And really, it has the Beatles lyrics at the end, which I thought would make it easily google-able, but it hasn't proven so. I'm still hopeful that someone here at the ref desk can help me find the poem I'm looking for. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A447:A6CD:1:4CD8:B6AF:960A:1E78 (talk) 17:00, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

Common words like I am he as you are are usually not helpful to include in a search because they're too common. I haven't found anything online that includes dinosaurs and pyramids in a poem, but it's stuff like that which will narrow down the search parameters. It would be even better if you had an actual line to the poem; for example, if the actual terms in the poem were mammoth and temple, searching on dinosaur and pyramid would not help. I think I'm out of ideas unless you remember an additional detail, but you may enjoy this poem by Carl Sagan; it's definitely not the one you're looking for, but it seems like you might enjoy it at least. Matt Deres (talk) 21:18, 25 January 2021 (UTC)

From the OP: I got it, I found it. The poem I've been looking for is called: A Poem for those wondering what it's all about. Murray Lachlan Young. Worth noting - he is/was not ever the US Poet Laureate, my bad. You can read this brilliant poem at: https://www.ourglobaldiary.com/chandnis-blog/a-poem-for-those-wondering-what-its-all-about-murray-lachlan-young (and other URLs). I will also try posting it here, I don't know if that breaks rules, if so, someone will remove it, I reckon. Thank you to people who tried to help me find the poem. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A447:A6CD:1:85B6:F48:E2DC:58C9 (talk) 18:30, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

A Poem for those wondering what it's all about - Murray Lachlan Young

Please listen very carefully
For taken Hypothetically
Supported comprehensively
Basically originally
A single singularity
Exploded quite impressively
Expanded exponentially
Creating stars and galaxies
With what must be quite logically
And coolly cosmologically
The building blocks of you and me
And continents and land and sea
A process evolutionary
Through dinosaur hegemony
Into our human ancestry
To cultural diversity
A growing global family
Producing universities
Facilities, laboratories
Religion met the sciences
Where people made discoveries
Of fundamental articles

And elementary particles
Both magical and technical
And also Mathematical
And random and symmetrical
Chemical and classical
Explained the metaphysical
That all things were divisible
But there must be a particle
Much smaller than a neutron ball
When answering the Hadron call
Will finally inform us all
That we are one and we are all
That we are great and we are small
We are day and we are night
We are dark and we are light
And I am he
As you are he
As you are me
And we are all together
I am the egg man
I am the egg man
I am the Walrus!
Coo coo ca Chooo!

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A447:A6CD:1:85B6:F48:E2DC:58C9 (talk) 18:32, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

Hmm - sorry the formating was lost, don't know how to fix that, but I suppose its mostly obvious, or you can read it at the link above. Thanks again. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A447:A6CD:1:85B6:F48:E2DC:58C9 (talk) 18:34, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

One thing you could fix is to sign your posts, using 4 tildes ~~~~ . ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:05, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

Well done for finding it. To fix poems and similar verbatim text, use {{subst:poem|Insert text here}} which reproduces the text and all spacing exactly. MinorProphet (talk) 14:47, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

Candace Award last given

Hi all, our article on the Candace Award states that the last year it was given was 1992. However, I've found no source stating that except that we have an archived webpage only listing recipients up to 1992. Is anyone able to find sources confirming this one way or another? this form in fact, would suggest the award has been renamed the "Candace Women of Achievement Awards". However, this 2016 news article lists the 2016 luncheon as the 'thirteenth' such one, so it couldn't possibly have begun in 1982 as this one was. Searching for ""candace award" site:https://ncbw.org/" brings no results. Thoughts? Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 15:26, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

• Related query, this article describing the establishment of the Candace Award describes an "Ennis Francis" as "one of the nation's leading champions of peace" and gives a death date of 1980. Any idea who this could be? Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 15:54, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

I found only name checks. Black Women Did That: 36th Annual Awards Celebration has her in a list of Harlem community icons. There are news articles mentioning a housing development in Harlem named after her. This flyer for Afrika Night and Dance (where she appears in a list with Shirley Chislom and Vernon Jordan) lists her as Ennis Francis - International Commission on Africa. The African American Day Parade organization lists her as a founder African American Day Parade:About Us. IdRatherBeAtTheBeach (talk) 18:12, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

She is mentioned here as being one of the Harlem community leaders who organized Harlem's first African American Day Parade in 1968. She is further mentioned as an eyewitness of the police killing Phillip Wright in 1966 here, where she is described as a Democratic leader of the 70th Assembly District.  --Lambiam 19:31, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

There are a number of medical articles by an Ennis Francis. Given the fact that the Ennis Francis scholarship mentioned in the Candace Award article is awarded for attending a historically black medical school, I believe possible that Ennis Francis the Harlem community leader and Dr. Ennis Francis are the same person. I found two other mentions, of Ennis Francis. The first is a comment in this article which puts her on the Central Harlem Council of Neighborhood Boards in 1968, and another mention at Flickr as being one of the subjects covered in the Harlem Civil Rights walking tour.IdRatherBeAtTheBeach (talk) 23:00, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Ennis Francis was not a doctor. The doctor's name is Francis Ennis. I confused last and first names. IdRatherBeAtTheBeach (talk) 23:11, 24 January 2021 (UTC)