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.”
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:
#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.
Crazy Great Kalamata Olive Tapenade
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a food processor, add garlic, parsley, and capers; and pulse until garlic is finely minced.
- Measure 1/3 cup olive oil and pour in only 1/4 cup of the oil to begin.
- Add Kalamata olives and pulse until olives are roughly pureed to a spread-like consistency.
- If needed, add the remaining oil into the food processor to achieve desired consistency.
- Serve with baguette slices, rosemary crackers, water crackers, sliced zucchini, or as a condiment to grilled flank steak.
- Use tapenade as a condiment to pasta dishes or combine 1 cup of Crazy Great Kalamata Olive Tapenade with 1 cup of Sundried Tomato Delight Pesto.
- Buon Appetito from Recipes with Rufina!
Notes:
Please listen to your food processor when the olives go into it. If you hear clunking sounds, immediately stop the food processor. Look for the olive pit(s)! Remove them and start to pulse again.
If you are using a blender instead of a food processor, put the olive oil in first. A vitamin would work well to make this. Just ensure that the garlic is finely minced.
Sundried Tomato Pesto Delight
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a food processor, add and pulse garlic, walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes with olive oil from the jar, basil, cheese together.
- Add basil pesto.
- Add remaining olive oil.
- Add salt, only if needed.
Notes:
Nut Allergen-Walnuts, Pine Nuts
Dairy Allergen
Freeze any pesto from the jar in ice cube trays if you don't expect to use it right away.
Freeze any sun-dried tomato delight pesto as well if you cannot use it within seven days.
Use 1 cup of sun-dried tomato delight pesto on 1/2 box of your favorite pasta. A thicker pasta like rigatoni works well.
Combine 1 cup of sun-dried tomato delight pesto with 1 cup of olive tapenade to use with a box of your favorite pasta. Cook pasta per direction. In a stainless steel bowl, toss pasta in the combination spread. Add olive oil to loosen as needed.
Summer (In Winter) Brie, Basil, and Heirloom Cherry Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place water in a large pot over high heat to boil.
- Add salt to water.
- Remove brie from refrigerator and slice off all rind.
- Cube brie in 1 inch dice.
- Place garlic, brie, tomatoes, and basil, in a stainless steel bowl.
- Add pasta to boiling water and cook per instructions.
- When the pasta is cooked al dente, immediately strain the pasta to remove excess water and place hot pasta in the bowl with the other ingredients.
- Toss pasta and ingredients with tongs to combine and place in serving dish. (Brie will melt.)
- Add parmesan and olive oil to taste.
- Serve immediately.
Notes:
Pasta cooking times vary. Angel Hair pasta cooks in approximately 4-5 minutes reducing the overall time for this meal significantly.
I used Barilla's gluten-free spaghetti and it was a big hit, even with those who don't typically like gluten-free products.
Remember to remove all the rind to avoid bitterness in the pasta. It is easier to do this when the brie is cold.
