An Introduction to Alternate Universes:
Theory and Practice
by Sandra J. Lindow
Our Universe is just one among very many "bubble universes," all popping out of the
general medium of the Big Bang like bubbles forming in a glass of beer. Somewhere
perhaps there are many universes more or less like ours, some very similar to and others
radically different from the universe we call "home."
John G. Cramer “Other Universes II,” Analog 11/84
I. Universal Soup
Inside the dark cauldron
universes bubble,
each bubble emerging,
breaking, becoming twinned-“Double, double toil and trouble”
when life begins within.
II. Universal Tree
A time tree of universes
rooted in Ygdrasil,
formed by branching possibilities,
the crotch of each branch,
a crisis where time splits,
heralded by the crow, “What If?”
III. Dream Door
A microcosm of macro universes,
wood of would,
the lintel is a shibboleth,
a handle the size of a sonnet,
opens to a dreamer’s kiss.
III. What If?
Somewhere onions dream,
whales sing oratorio; Elvis lives.
Universes not yet conceived
quicken behind the medulla oblongata,
Gyroscope Review !13