Mitochondrial Fire - A Lyrical Poem
(We find ourselves in a foreign land.)
Although most of a cell’s DNA is contained in the nucleus, the mitochondrion has its own independent genome. Further, its DNA shows substantial similarity to bacterial genomes.
Mitochondria are sometimes described as “cellular power plants” because they generate most of the cell’s supply of ATP, used as a source of chemical energy.
Under certain conditions, protons can re-enter the mitochondrial matrix without contributing to the synthesis of ATP. This process, known as proton leak, is facilitated by proteins and results in the release of potential energy as heat.
This is not my father’s home… yet it is all I have ever known.
When we came to this consecrated plain;
when we gained a new purpose in the great game,
we were forever changed.
Yet crossing the known boundaries, encountering the unnamed
a part of what we always were will forever remain.
No longer alone, I am the motion, I am become my home.
(No longer alone, waving this ocean, I am become my home.)
I… I am the fire… I am the consuming fire
I am releasing energy (to motion)
Bringing life to the tree, life to the tree…
Life to the tree that sustains me.
This is not my father’s home
This is not where my tribe was formed…
Yet it is all I have ever known (alone and not alone)
No longer a prison to me; though I will never leave,
In this shelter I am free.
(Reaching through my old body into this new me,
I extend through every boundary.) (Shed my skin.)
My home is the hearth that supplies my needs,
And I am the heat, I am the heat.
I am the fire, riding the beast.
Carry me, carry me.
(We ride the winds of our own creation.)
(We drive the wings of our procreation.)
I am the fire… (the) key to life.
The mitochondria are essential to multicellular life.
Revised June 2011 from original posting Sept 2010.
Read into Ninjam with minor live edits June 2012
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