Poet finds inspiration in science

In her first reading as Utah's newest poet laureate, Katharine Coles definitely did not disappoint.

Coles presented a selection of poems from her upcoming manuscript, "Fault," in the Harold B. Lee library at BYU on Friday, taking listeners on a contemplative journey through science, an inspiration that feeds and gives shape to her poetry.

"When I was working on my second book, I came to the understanding that science was a huge part of who I was and how I thought about the world," she said.

She pulled the audience straight into her poetry with the rhythm of her voice and the intricate connections of her verse. Her poems blended science with everyday experience, reflections on history and science, travel experiences and moments of beauty.

One of her poems, "Good eye," originated in her experience of having LASIK surgery. She connected that experience to other types of vision such as high-tech telescopes, a trip to Europe to visit old observatories and to the Salt Lake City tornado, which, she said, changed direction across the street from her house.

Another poem was structured like a scientific paper, with an abstract, hypothesis, methodology, experiment and results.

Coles is an associate professor of English at the University of Utah.

"I came from a family of scientists," she said. "It really was in the air when I was growing up. My father was a mathematician, and he also did a lot of work with biology."

She is currently working on a nonfiction book called "Burnt Letters," which is about her grandfather, a petroleum geologist and explorer, and her "adventurous grandmother."

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