THE CELL from SELF-PORTRAITS AT THE HEALTH MUSEUM

Every misconception, foolish
wish, and memory of the sea
begins here, inside a membrane-
bound sac of cytoplasm, where
endoplasmic reticulum forms
channels studded with beads.
The nucleus, round and yellow
as a grapefruit on the display,
is filled with helical DNA
encoding all the faults I got
from my parents - insomnia,
fear of water and elevators,
obsession with details, vanity.
Mitochondria spew out ATP
as proteins grow and fold,
following orders from RNA.
This is the machinery of
the soul, where love arises
as a series of electrical signals
mediated by ions traversing
the membrane, and sometimes
small epiphanies break free.

-Lucille Lang Day

Berklee’s poetry Walk was laid in October 2003 along Edison Street between Shattuck and Milvia Streets. The route includes 128 metal plates with excerpts from songs, each of which is related in one way or another to the city of Berkeley.

The current plaque features a poem by the poet, writer and scientist, Lucille Lang Day (1947). Day earned all of her academic degrees (including a doctorate) from the University of Berkeley.
In the current song you can see her involvement in science, in the song many scientific facts about the structure of the cell are presented.