Defying Entropy: A Collection of Poems

By Donna Harlan

Much of life is about trying to bring order out of chaos. While that
isn’t always possible, bringing a fresh look to the storms of life can
bring order and peace to our inner worlds. These poems range from
light-hearted to serious, but the themes are universal even when the
topics are specific.
A simple definition of entropy is that there is a general trend of the
universe toward death and disorder. This is the reality of the world
in which we live, so our challenge every day is to defy that second
law of thermodynamics in whatever way we can. Let these poems
speak to you about hope.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9781663260734

Donna Harlan

Donna Harlan is a native of Tennessee and a graduate of East Tennessee State University. This is her second collection of poems, following Bench by the Pond (2019). Her poems have been featured in several publications, and she is a reader for three literary journals. She and her husband have been blessed with two daughters, two sons-in-law, and four delightful grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2024 Donna Harlan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Images Credit page 70 and 80: Becky Harlan

ISBN: 978-1-6632-6071-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-6072-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-6073-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024909551

iUniverse rev. date: 05/30/2024

CONTENTS

Preface

Kiss the Day

Playing with Trains

Buried Treasure

Be a Baby

Your Name

Baby Boy

The Reason for Love

Tangled Web

First to Know

A Bucket of Chicken

Posthumous Love

Drawing Names

Trains of Thought

White Noise

Souvenirs

Bread

Your Straight-Up Hair

Home Again

Ten

Things I Crave

Seasonal Winds

Morning Sun

Happy Geese

This

Moss on Trees

March

Atmospheric Pleasure

Scandalous Hour

Abandonment

A Way for the Wind

November

Winter’s Art

Winter Morning

A Thousand Words

Marriage of Faith and Sight

Flight Pattern

Linger

Linger

Finding Me

Labor Day Potatoes

Squatters in the Soul

Tired

Inside

Washing the Porch

Tomato

Bulkhead

Bound

Virginia Dare

Safety Net

Performance of the Dead

Details

Ordering

Lovely

Cresting on Mount Ararat

Mount Ararat

If Only

Canon

GeorgeAndMary

The Reveal Party

Funerals

Legacy

Treasures

Strawberry Cake

Communion

Stained-Glass Windows

What Is a Prayer?

World at War

Silent Night

Upon a Time

The Table

In Conclusion

Not Everything Has to Be a Poem

Previously Published Poems

Other Books by Donna Harlan

PREFACE

I remember my high school chemistry teacher talking to me in the lunch line, telling me I should have taken physics. If I had made that wise choice, I would have learned the second law of thermodynamics at a much younger age. As it was, I learned it years later from my husband, whose undergraduate degree was in chemical engineering.

For those of you like me who opted out of physics, one broad