Published tête-bêche style in a single volume, Bigelow’s debut poetry collections,Science & Mysticism and The Veil’s Cipher comprise a twin set that reaches with impressive depth into the scientific, spiritual, and physical mysteries of the universe. Offering what Bigelow calls “ruminations on the infinite from a finite being,” the collections draw heavily from particle physics and quantum mechanics, finding in these theories tools to conduct a spiritual inquiry. In other words, Bigelow creates a union between the scientific and the divine, consciously disrupting the binary between the two to illuminate the universe and humanity’s relationship to it.

While the poems are galactic in scope, they aren’t out of reach, nor do they lack playfulness. Most are lyrical and abound with wordplay, as in “Dream Data”: “Light is the measure of all matter / and it’s all just a matter of Time.” Bigelow also plays with form and structure, publishing distinct yet aligned collections of poetry that focus so acutely on polarities. Science & Mysticism is, in general, concerned with the melding of just what its title promises, while The Veil’s Cipher focuses on the enigma of time and the struggle of humanity to cope with its own temporality (“I don’t see / a start / or end / to time”).

Still, Bigelow’s heady ideas flow freely across the physical divide between the volumes, the verses within penned in clear, engaging, surprising language. The collections create a oneness that reflects Bigelow’s ideas about the oneness of the universe (“All inhabits / every moment”) that has split itself into varied, seemingly self-contained forms. According to the speaker in “Heirlooms,” as the “rare metals” of existence collide and connect in “intense chaotic energetic refinement,” “we are making jewelry.” Readers searching for a home in the intersection of poetry, science, and spirituality will find one in Bigelow’s debut.

Takeaway: Electric poetry concerning spirituality, quantum physics, and other mysteries.

Comparable Titles: Pattiann Rogers’s Holy Heathen Rhapsody, Sarah Howe’s Relativity.

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