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    The poem describes strange events that occurred in Europe in 1307, including an unusually cold winter with the Baltic Sea freezing over and birds migrating north earlier than normal. It then describes two children committing suicide by having their bodies sewn into goatskins and dragged by a horse to the sea. The following Sunday, a preacher named Meister Eckhart gave a sermon suggesting Mary Magdalene found angels instead of Jesus in the tomb due to her human grief and purity. The poem notes the Baltic Sea also froze in 1303 but there were no notable events that year.

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    An Annual of the Dark Physics by Norman Dubie _ Poetry Foundation

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    The poem describes strange events that occurred in Europe in 1307, including an unusually cold winter with the Baltic Sea freezing over and birds migrating north earlier than normal. It then describes two children committing suicide by having their bodies sewn into goatskins and dragged by a horse to the sea. The following Sunday, a preacher named Meister Eckhart gave a sermon suggesting Mary Magdalene found angels instead of Jesus in the tomb due to her human grief and purity. The poem notes the Baltic Sea also froze in 1303 but there were no notable events that year.

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    6 views1 page

    An Annual of The Dark Physics by Norman Dubie - Poetry Foundation

    Uploaded by

    Tyler Smith
    The poem describes strange events that occurred in Europe in 1307, including an unusually cold winter with the Baltic Sea freezing over and birds migrating north earlier than normal. It then describes two children committing suicide by having their bodies sewn into goatskins and dragged by a horse to the sea. The following Sunday, a preacher named Meister Eckhart gave a sermon suggesting Mary Magdalene found angels instead of Jesus in the tomb due to her human grief and purity. The poem notes the Baltic Sea also froze in 1303 but there were no notable events that year.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    5/1/2020 An Annual of the Dark Physics by Norman Dubie | Poetry Foundation

    An Annual of the Dark Physics

    BY N O R M A N D U B I E

    The Baltic Sea froze in 1307. Birds flew north


    From the Mediterranean in early January.
    There were meteor storms throughout Europe.

    On the first day of Lent


    Two children took their own lives:
    Their bodies
    Were sewn into goatskins
    And were dragged by the hangman’s horse
    The three miles down to the sea.
    They were given a simple grave in the sand.

    The following Sunday, Meister Eckhart


    Shouted that a secret word
    Had been spoken to him. He preached

    That Mary Magdalene


    Sought a dead man in the tomb
    But, in her confusion, found
    Only two angels laughing. . .

    This was a consequence of her purity

    And her all too human grief.


    The Baltic Sea
    Also froze in 1303—
    Nothing happened that was worthy of poetry.

    Norman Dubie, “An Annual of the Dark Physics” from The Mercy Seat: Collected & New Poems 1967-2001

    (Copper Canyon Press, 2001). www.coppercanyonpress.org

    Source: The Mercy Seat: Collected & New Poems 1967-2001 (Copper Canyon Press, 2001)

    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51390/an-annual-of-the-dark-physics?utm_source=Poetry+Foundation&utm_campaign=9a3b28154a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN… 1/2

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