My whole life I had been told
That there was but one substrate I could hold
A substrate in every way perfect for me
Together an enzyme-substrate complex we would be
Oh how I dreamt of her every night
Desperate to fill the void in my active site
For a time I didn’t mind the wait
Knowing somewhere out there was my structural mate
But time grew cruel, and I began to question my conformation
Was it possible that mine was a mutation
What if there was no product for this reaction
No substrate with whom I could share my attraction
Was mine a lineage without nomenclature
One destined for a slow denature
I had been burned before
A competitive inhibitor known only as whore
She’d taken my active site
For which she had no reason but spite
My faith was waning,
My beta pleats tired from straining
But then I remembered what my RNA had said
Perhaps I wasn’t better off dead
See he had told me of a way to adapt
A way to harness my potential that remained untapped
All I needed was to induce a fit
I could find another substrate to permit
And so I did, a dazzling 6 carbon carbohydrate
Though she could easily have been an eight
Like a lock and key we meshed
I’d never felt so blessed
Yet as quickly as she had come, she left
Leaving behind an empty cleft
I was devastated until I saw
A grand sucrose without a flaw
I soon learned, that together glucose and me
Had created something of a larger degree
Our love had given the world a disaccharide
And I couldn’t feel a thing but pride
Love I had learned was fleeting
But with a little heating
It would find me again soon
Another substrate to make swoon
I am a scientist.
I believe in method and procedure.
I only see what is in front of me.
I draw conclusions upon proof.
Science has given me reason.
There is a rule in science:
Three trials make your findings significant,
For someone to acknowledge that your attempts have meaning.
I have known this rule since I can remember.
But I look back,
And I remember that you have broken my heart four times.
Four times I have had you and lost you.
It happened once, twice, three times, and then four.
You have destroyed me from the inside out.
There has been cause and effect.
I have seen it with my own eyes,
I have felt every vessel in my heart get torn by you.
I have learned
That science does not apply to love.
That science is for the real world.
And that love—
Well love doesn’t exist in the mind where science lies.
Love is not made by the brain.
Love is not the set of chemical reactions I have learned it is.
Love is waking up every day
Desperate for a fifth trial.
Reader,
Jane Austen once wrote, “It is a truth universally
acknowledged that a single person in possession of
a good fortune, must be in want of The Statement’s
annual Literary Issue.” Actually, she didn’t. But we
think it’s true. In this issue, you’ll find everything
from love, sex and science to almonds — yes,
almonds.
We hope these poems and short stories open your
mind to the creativity and imagination that live on
our campus and within our writing.
Welcome to the Literary Issue.
We hope you enjoy,
Lara Moehlman
Managing Statement Editor
Brian Kuang
Deputy Statement Editor
Yoshiko Iwai
Deputy Statement Editor
Alexis Rankin
Statement Photo Editor
2B
Managaing Statement Editor:
Lara Moehlman
Deputy Editors:
Yoshiko Iwai
Brian Kuang
Photo Editor:
Alexis Rankin
Editor in Chief:
Emma Kinery
Design Editors
Erin Tolar
Emily Hardie
Managing Editor:
Rebecca Lerner
Copy Editors:
Danielle Jackson
Taylor Grandinetti
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 // The Statement
Catalyst
Scientist
Letter from the Editors
ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS
BY KEEGAN MCGUIRE, LSA Sophomore
BY NIKKI HAGGERTY, LSA Sophomore
statement
THE MICHIGAN DAILY | MARCH 15, 2017