Physics: stored energy
(marble at the top of the hill)
waiting for its chance to convert
into kinetics (move it baby)
Latin: potentia (power)
derived from potent
(being able) to do whatever
it is you have the potential to do.
Humans: we are the marbles
waiting at the top of the slope
for our chance to convert ourselves
into a movement that will change the world.
in science we learn about momentum.
we watch videos of soap box derbies,
balls bouncing,
rockets blasting into space,
and the mathematical formula seems so simple:
mass times velocity equals momentum
but I am a linguist
and all I can think about is
the root movere,
to move
which is simpler to understand
and describes,
in its perfect infinitive form,
what you do to me.
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