After the bang, burning
sound and light from indefinite drift
expanding red and blueshifts
now blanketed, we sit
I shiver
at your touch, burning
heat and cold, turning
sound and light
the stardust trapped within
our cells, a microcosm—
Yes! I see it now.
A quadrille for my dVerse prompt today. The prompt word is shiver. Join us!
Leaves crunch underfoot,
above red planet rises–
owl hunts unconcerned
Thrusters fire, and a ship lands securely in a sandy crater. Passion burned in the heart of the war god; his namesake is rust-hued, barren, and frigid. But–once water flowed here, and perhaps life flourished, too.
We look up, wonder
see fiery stars, and ponder–
elsewhere, sun sets blue
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M/Cornell
On May 19, 2005, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover’s 489th Martian day, or sol.
My poem was inspired by the Mars Insight probe that landed this week. This Haibun is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday using synonyms for cold and safe. And for dVerse, where Victoria asked us to write any type of poem using fire.
We lie on our backs on the wide green expanse between dorms. Soon we’ll be starting classes here–a future scary, uncertain, and suffused with what ifs. We’re filled with the ardor and fire of youth. But in this moment, we’re still and content, bodies grounded, yet spirits soaring as we watch the feathered clouds fly across the late summer sky. They’re blown by a wild wind miles above us. My boyfriend points out some constellations–the Big Dipper, Orion. I make a wish and send it sailing into the night.
River of heaven,
flowing light in ink-blue sea
carries dreams onward
This Haibun is for Frank’s Haikai challenge, using Milky Way (amanogawa), which he notes is an early autumn kigo. He says “the literal translation of amanogawa is ‘river of heaven.’”
And for Colleen’s Weekly Tanka Tuesday, using synonyms for vigor and energy.
And for dVerse’s Open Link night, where Mish is hosting.
Cobble me
lights, shiny bright
stepping stones–
a path to roam
up in the night,
past the moon
and her humming tune,
lightly skip
through Pleiades–
those starry seas–
make this road
wide enough for two,
and when through,
we’ll turn around
homeward bound.
This is for dVerse, where De Jackson (aka Whimsy Gizmo) has asked us to write a quadrille, a poem of 44 words, using the word cobble.
Twinkling from afar,
dead stars’ light glimmers the sky,
illusions of time,
the past waltzing through our minds
laughter and tears remembered
NGC 6744
Hubble, NASA, ESA, and the LEGUS Team
This tanka is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday using synonyms for fantasy and merry.
Space time rushes pass
in moments gone, but endless
choices of the heart
travel from Earth to the stars,
then answer the muse’s call
I’m catching up on challenges. This is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday challenge, using synonyms for hurry and last. I honestly didn’t know anything about Apollo astronaut Alan Bean, who died today. He was one of the fourth man to walk on the moon, but he left NASA to become a painter.You can see examples of his work here.
“Every artist has the earth or their imaginations to inspire their paintings.. .I’ve got the earth and my imagination, and I’m the first to have the moon, too.” The New York Times
Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt asks us to “take one of the following statements of something impossible, and then write a poem in which the impossible thing happens. I chose this one:
The stars cannot rearrange themselves in the sky.
Somewhere in space, stars always sing,
and in a distance place, they also dance,
in quadrille or waltz, they sway and swing,
they arrange themselves, but not by chance.
And in a distant place, they also dance,
sometimes, a stellar pas de deux–
they arrange themselves, but not by chance–
of course, they do, well, wouldn’t you?
Sometimes, a stellar pas de deux
to the carillon of time’s dawn
of course, they do, well, wouldn’t you—
move with joy, before it’s gone?
To the carillon of time’s dawn
in quadrille or waltz, they sway and swing,
move with joy before it’s gone—
somewhere in space, stars always sing.
“However, what it is really exciting about NGC 1097 is that it is not wandering alone through space. It has two small galaxy companions, which dance “the dance of stars and the dance of space” like the gracious dancer of the famous poem The Dancer by Khalil Gibran.”
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgement: E. Sturdivant
Diamonds rain on distant worlds
through far-flung light, they’re hurled
as if in a dream, or time-stopped scheme
she sees this sight, this bright delight
sparkling glimmers in the night,
amongst them beings with feathered, icy arms
who dazzle with their unearthly charms
murmuring as they her enwound
twirling her so up is down, and all around
the sound surrounds–
the voices of the planets and stars,
and quasars hum and pulse in song,
and she wants to sing along
bewitched by time and space
but then it’s gone, this now elusive place–
yet when she hears the rain at night
she remembers the bewitching sounds, the transcendent light,
the sight of diamonds sparkling from the sky
and remembers that once she reached and she could fly
“This image of Saturn’s rings was taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 13, 2017. It is among the last images Cassini sent back to Earth.”
I’m linking this to dVerse’s Open Link. Björn invites us with the holiday spirit in mind and the winter solstice soon to come. I brought sparkly space diamonds to the party. dVerse is taking a two-week holiday break.
Yesterday was my birthday. It snowed and things didn’t quite go right, but I read that it might rain diamonds on planets such as Saturn, Jupiter, and Neptune, and I thought how beautiful that must be.
I haven’t consulted the Oracle in awhile, but she seems to be in a good mood today, and she gave me this shadorma, even though Eliot’s November challenge is over.
A star sails
haunting the night, she
laughs, wake a
universe,
her voice fire and joy, it
lingers, a breath, . . .if
This is for Jane’s A Month with Yeats Poetry Challenge, Day Nineteen.
Today’s quotation:
“We who still labour by the cromlech on the shore,
The grey cairn on the hill, when day sinks drowned in dew,
Being weary of the world’s empires, bow down to you,
Master of the still stars and of the flaming door.”—W.B. Yeats
This was going to be a triolet, but it isn’t. 🙂
A Vision in the Night
She had a vision in the night
saw by the cairns there was such peace
in utter darkness, shone a light,
stars sang there, they scarcely ceased,
though by the cairns there was such peace
and shadows lingered out of sight
Looking up at fiery stars
from high above the shore she stared
wondered if a door opened there
where people dared and peace was shared
from high above the shore she stared,
thought peace lived there beyond the stars
Józef Marian Chełmoński [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings 