And Yet It Moves

<p>In <em>And Yet It Moves</em> the poet is an archeologist of mourning rediscovering that</p><p>assaults on science and reason are not new phenomenon. Gallagher follows</p><p>Petrarch who spawns a new lyric in part inspired by lost texts and who motivates</p><p>'book hunters' of the Renaissance to search for the buried as well. The world</p><p>changed when Poggio Bracciolini discovered Lucretius' On the Nature of Things in</p><p>a Benedictine library. Lucretius' poem is a meditation of the universe as infinite</p><p>numbers of atoms wandering randomly through space with no master plan</p><p>whatsoever. The book birthed humanist philosophy masterworks such as the</p><p>Birth of Venus and inspirations for Galileo Galilei. When Galileo's patrons the</p><p>powerful Medici rose to the Papacy they chose their power over science and</p><p>reason-sentencing and silencing Galileo for life for proving that the earth</p><p>revolved around the sun. Digging with his pen Gallagher brings these stories</p><p>back in 'talking sonnets' as if ditching the Latin for the more colloquial Italian of</p><p>the people that came into form during the era. Upon his sentencing Galileo's is</p><p>said to have uttered 'Eppur si muove' knowing that the truth will eventually</p><p>prevail.</p>