Entanglements: Physics, love and wilderness dreams

by Jack Mayer

Entanglement occurs at every level of existence. Life is entangled. PHYSICS, LOVE, AND WILDERNESS DREAMS, Jack Mayer’s second poetry collection, is a poetic mélange about relationships, from sub-atomic particles to our human family; the ties that bind. Mayer, a pediatrician, poet, and hiker, explores the metaphysics of cosmology and that particularly intense entanglement, love. At the macroscopic level, Mayer’s doctor poems, inspired by his pediatric practice in rural Northern Vermont, take the reader into the heart and soul of a healer inspired to find meaning in his patients’ often difficult lives. Unique connections are unearthed. As a wilderness hiker and canoeist, Mayer has experienced the healing power of wilderness; the mystery of belonging to wilderness, of independence and interdependence. His wilderness poems carry us into his beloved Green Mountains on Vermont’s Long Trail. On solo hikes he composes poems, then copies his first draft into the nearest shelter’s logbook under his trail name, “Mountain Poet.” A durable thread connects these musings on relationships—our fundamental connections. Our quest for meaning depends on relationships, the matrix within which we endeavor to understand. We are entangled.

“From heartbreaking verses evoking his medical practice amidst rural poverty, to the mysterious ‘spooky action at a distance’ entanglement of quantum physics, and on to musings on the covid pandemic, on love, and on wilderness and dreams, Jack Mayer’s poems celebrate entanglement in all its aspects—entanglement of doctor and patient, of quantum particles, of long-time lovers, of human and nature, and even entanglement of the body’s parts seen as a medical student dissects a cadaver. For all the poems in this remarkable collection, entanglement serves as metaphor for the broader interconnectedness of our world.”
—Rich Wolfson, Benjamin F. Wissler Professor Emeritus of Physics, Middlebury College

Kindle Edition

Published November 9, 2022

About the author

Jack Mayer is a pediatrician and a writer. He began practicing pediatrics in 1976 in Enosburg Falls, Vermont, a small town in eastern Franklin County on the Canadian border. His was the first pediatric practice in that half of the county. He was a country doctor there for ten years, often bartering medical care for eggs, firewood, and knitted afghans. From 1987 – 1991 Dr. Mayer was a National Cancer Institute Fellow at Columbia University School of Public Health in New York City, researching the molecular biology of childhood cancer. Most of his scientific writing was done during those four years. He was also an academic pediatrician at Columbia University’s Presbyterian Medical Center.
Dr. Mayer returned to Vermont in 1991 and established Rainbow Pediatrics in Middlebury, Vermont where he continues to practice primary care pediatrics. He is an Instructor in Pediatrics at the University of Vermont School of Medicine and an advisor for pre-medical students at Middlebury College.
Throughout his career, Dr. Mayer has written short stories, poems, and essays about his years in pediatric practice and hiking The Long Trail in Vermont. He was a participant at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in 2003 and 2005 for fiction, and in 2008 for poetry. LIFE IN A JAR: The Irena Sendler Project is his first non-fiction book.
His new book, BEFORE THE COURT OF HEAVEN is historical fiction based on a true story, about the rise of the Third Reich . (Wind Ridge Books - Fall 2016)

He lives in Middlebury.

BOOK AWARDS AND RECOGNITION FOR:

BEFORE THE COURT OF HEAVEN
a novel by Jack Mayer

2016 IndieReader Discovery Award – 1st Place - Fiction
2015 Nautilus Book Award Winner – Fiction – Silver medal
2016 Finalist – Grand Prize (Eric Hoffer Award) – Fiction
2016 First Horizon Award (Eric Hoffer Award) Finalist – Fiction
2016 Foreword Reviews INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award Finalist – Historical Fiction
2015 Mom’s Choice Award - Gold Medal – Historical Fiction
2015 Pinnacle Book Achievement Award - Best Novel - Fall 2015
2015 Beverly Hills Book Awards – Finalist – “Faction” - fiction based on true stories.
2015 A Best Indie Book – IndieReader (5-stars)
2015 Shelf Unbound – Notable Indie – 2015 Best Indie Books.


LIFE IN A JAR: THE IRENA SENDLER PROJECT
by Jack Mayer – Non-fiction (Long Trail Press, 2011)

2015 - First Horizon Award - Non-fiction (Eric Hoffer Book Award)
2015 Mom’s Choice Award – Gold Medal – Young Adult
2015 First Horizon Award - Non-fiction– Eric Hoffer Book Award
2014 Readers’ Favorite Book Award – Gold Medal - Education
2014 Benjamin Franklin Digital Award – Silver Honoree
2014 Shelf Unbound Notable Book
2012 IndieReader Discovery Award - Biography
2011 Kansas Notable Book Award
2011 da Vinci Eye (Eric Hoffer Book Award)