Quantum Pie

Prompt for Pie & Whiskey:

“I really couldn’t, couldn’t eat a mouse pie. And I shall have to eat it, because it is a party.”

-Duchess, a dog, from “The Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan” by Beatrix Potter

Poem:

Quantum Pie (written on 3.14.2025, Not Quite Irrational)

© 2025 Rufina C. Garay. All rights reserved.

All possibilities exist in a quantum world when we do not observe, perceive, or collapse the particle and wave functions, but instead hold the superposition… (paraphrasing Jason Padgett, an acquired mathematical savant who explains quantum theory very well in TedTalks, podcasts, and fine art)

I. Before I tell the tale of quantum pie,

I will tell a fable of one lie

and then two truths

for quantum theory has been proved:

“Hand me the Glencairn glass, Mouse—old friend,

I’ll drink the bottle better yet, down the end.

I’m a dog,” bragged Duke, maker of laws, “but only on the sly,

this bill too shall pass, a nation swollen can’t bat an eye.

Come, let me drink your whiskey made of rye

and suck the bones of succulent goose pie.”

On the counter went two-pence,

While he sighed and eyed, the Duchess running laps from bar to fence.

But the cook’s cat, having no goose,

thought scampering Mouse, a worthy substitute.

Oh! How the Duke did cry

when he realized the wiry lie

of the caterwauling dissimulator putting pie on platter,

His maw opened raw—we shook and strained to see the matter.

Duke’s discomfort grew and

out his mouth a tiny bone withdrew,

But the taste of power

is not so different than buttered flour

when cooked in crust.

It belies the dawning of dust to dust.

A hint of death he felt, like the rest of us,

yet another bite he ate,

and Duke did tolerate,

until his conscience finally did rail

for he picked his teeth of resting bones,

screaming, “GEESE HAVE NO FURRY TAIL!”

II. Now, we begin with the real meat of Quantum Pie...

If wave and particle once perceived give birth

to one outcome

to be done,

to pass through,

or die

then, there is amplitude and magnitude in what it means to be American,

flag worn,

transgendered-hair shorn,

apron torn,

but on Independence Day, there is dependence

on the simple making of an apple pie.

But you see, pi, P-I is in the dome of the D.C. capitol,

and as a number, it is irrational, but

PIE, P-I-E is transcendental!

whether baked or mathematical, it can be fractional,

but quantum pie is as delectable and inedible

as mouse pie to the Duchess and Schrodinger’s cat,

at least now that they are dead and alive immortalized by this poem.

What do you think of that?

An entanglement of existence, every generation a possibility

catapulting toward peace or plummeting to catastrophe,

Encircled at the source, a never-ending cycle,

Guns, canons, bombs, maybe a colonial rifle,

when a coup becomes a trifle,

one identity, claims the power of pi,

speaking warring lies,

some call it circular reasoning,

others, a politician’s seasoning,

a president in oval office,

spouting a pot of piss.

When I partake of Quantum Pie twice baked to perfection and dereliction,

my timelines cross,

And I remember a different America,

alas my childhood at a loss.

Fond keepers of virtue—those who bake pie.

Between appointed apple slices,

while not giving up our meals with rice is

the beauty of straddling worlds and being American,

sprinkled with some cinnamon,

being taught by musical Miss Dohms

to bake apple pie at home.

She also taught “McArthur Park is melting in the dark,”

“Sweet green icing flowing down,”

and though I was eleven,

it was a bit of death and heaven,

that pain of recipes lost --“I’ll never have the recipe again.”

And only now, do I realize,

how this sturdy eagle-statured teacher

with her quantum pie and song became a preacher,

A church organ player towering from above,

and when it came to pie and pi,

she was only ever teaching me of love.

What is the sound of pie, the flaky forgetting, falling away

the absence of rule of law, a dog’s day?

A morsel of truth remaining on the table,

when reels make our news, we no longer need an Aesop fable.

A new legacy forms, out of lies born—

the melting whispers of memory at fork’s edge,

emptied patriotism, a cruel pledge,

Are we worn by our history, the factions or fractions,

torn hearts?

Are we done cutting the last piece of pie into parts—

always inching toward extinction?

Is this the last bite of democracy?

Heads we win, but maybe we already have tails between our teeth?

Methinks I doth collapse the wave function too much, but

tell the Good Ole Boys, as they drink their whiskey and rye

“The levy is running dry.”

1.     Pi - Wikipedia

2.     Alternate Realities from Relativity | Jason Padgett | TEDxTacoma

3.     Glencairn Glass—a crystal glass “especially used to drink whiskey” http://bit.ly/4kU2zkG

4.     Dog’s Day- a slanted reference to Dog days - Idioms by The Free Dictionary

5.     “MacArthur Park is melting in the dark… the sweet green icing flowing down… I’ll never have the recipe again.” MacArthur Park (song) - Wikipedia

6.     Aesop Fable- Aesop's Fables - Wikipedia

7.     “Methinks I doth collapse the wave function too much” -reference to Hamlet, a Shakespearean play, and the often misquoted quote related to the play within the play, and to the question of the famous soliloquy “To be or not to be…”.

8.     “Good Ole Boys” . . . “drink their whiskey and rye” . . .and “The levy is running dry...” are a reference to a song: American Pie (song) - Wikipedia

Additional contemporary information on the Rule of Law from the Washington Bar:

Ambassador Tool Kit

#ruleoflaw #pie #americanpie #applepie #pie #poetry #getlitspokane #spokane

This is my personal quantum pie made at Pie School (in a writers’ cabin where Kate Lebo taught us new pie techniques and Sam Lignon consistently and persistently rolled out pie dough—talk about love for pie and people! The paper I used for the sign is a handout from Sam’s class) , circa 2024 Centrum Writers Conference—crossing timelines with memories of Miss Dohms, my grade school music teacher and St. Mary’s church organist, who was a stickler for us giving our best in song at mass. She always expressed a moral code of conduct that she expected of us, and she loved us with firm belief and regard for the best that we could give of ourselves and to each other in community. She was also the first person who taught my immigrant mom and me to bake apple pie.

See recipes from previous blog post below for something savory before something sweet.

My First Food Zoom

What?! I couldn’t believe it. My friend, maybe better described as my sister from another mother, Rita F., wanted a team-building event and learned there wasn’t much of a budget for it where she worked.

As fortune would have it, I wanted to pilot my first “Food Zoom.” I didn’t have an idea other than I wanted to try it. Inspired by Rita’s interest, I created the theme in a couple of hot minutes on our fifteen minute call.

It would be pandemic, pantry-driven holiday party food, that would be easy for anyone of her team members to make. It would feature food as self-care as an overarching theme. I wanted to talk about the healthy properties of certain ingredients. When was the last time I got to talk about phenolic acid? After all, self-care might be the most important thing for a team leader to support in these COVID-19 affected times.

As I uttered the racing ideas pouring out of my pandemic-restricted, extroverting brainstorm, Rita said “yes, I want that for them!” The “them” was a team she loved and adored who were simply an incredibly high-performing, creative team.

I would share a recipe given to me by a friend from college (Katie B.) and would offer a taste and reminder of summer with brie, basil, and heirloom cherry and grape tomatoes. Rita’s team worked remotely long before the pandemic. I wondered whether some of them lived in places where the snow had already started to fall heavily.

It was amazing to connect with these ladies. Granted, there were some glitches in the transmission and the sound of the hood vent at times. I didn’t worry, because it just felt so good to share food virtually. I can’t recall the last time I heard the “Yum!” of strangers.

To know that they were nourishing themselves while still getting the most important things out of a team-building event—something done collectively that feels inspiring and fun, and maybe a stronger sense of knowing one another, (which comes from hanging out, even virtually, in each other’s kitchens), well, that’s satiating.

I’m grateful to all of them that they willingly participated in the proof-in-principle of a cross-country Food Zoom.

Here are the recipes:

• Crazy Great Kalamata Olive Tapenade (note that “vitamin” was supposed to be “vitamix” below)

• Sundried Tomato Delight Pesto

• Summer (in Winter) Brie, Basil, and Heirloom Cherry Tomato Pasta

Buon Appetito from Recipes with Rufina!