21st March, WORLD POETRY DAY “is a window onto the breath-taking diversity of humanity”, says UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. To celebrate, I’ve chosen to share a Science Rhyme inspired by Nikola Tesla’s story about his childhood pet-cat, the black-Macak. What sparks your poetic interest?
Cat-a-static by Celia Berrell
(Nikola Tesla 1856 – 1943)
Nicola Tesla’s cat
MACAK
Nikola loved his childhood cat
the sleek, majestic black-Macak.
A cat whose fur would click and spark
when days were chilly, dry and dark
as stroking black-Macak’s fur coat
could cause a tiny lightning bolt.
Nikola Tesla loved his cat
the sparkling, zappy black-Macak.
That static electricity
inspired young Tesla, cleverly
inventing things quite technical.
Especially electrical.
From neon lights and radios
to radar and remote controls.
Transistors, robots, X-ray zones
and AC power to our homes.
Tesla had a genius knack
that started through his cat Macak!
You can read Nicola Tesla’s short story of his childhood in Yugoslavia 1939 HERE:
” … It happened that one day the cold was drier than ever before. People walking in the snow left a luminous trail behind them, and a snowball thrown against an obstacle gave a flare of light like a loaf of sugar cut with a knife. In the dusk of the evening, as I stroked Macak’s back, I saw a miracle that made me speechless with amazement. Macak’s back was a sheet of light and my hand produced a shower of sparks loud enough to be heard all over the house. …”