“This image shows what astronomers think is one of the coldest brown dwarfs discovered so far (red dot in middle of frame). The object, called SDWFS J143524.44+335334.6, is one of 14 such brown dwarfs found by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope using infrared light.” Wikimedia Commons
It careens through space— failed star, the astronomers say, ancient and cold, they name it, The Accident
because they don’t understand how compelled, it searches for the light it knows is there
invisible and beyond our perception, like dreams, constant, like time, endless, eternal.
Picture— storm-chased seas, waves in white-foamed roiling crash against the small trireme, fortunes plumet.
Behold– a tale unfolds, ocean-dark legends, gods and mortals interlocked, love lost and found.
Slay now, the snake-haired beast, though she blood-births magic– this winged-horse, muse-beloved, soars skyward.
Listen– and hear beyond ancient, echoed voices, flashes of ghost-light memory linger–
each pulse, part of time’s dust in gleaming streams–glimmers of what was, what is, what might be– somewhere
a place in time, circling round, like a comet bound for space, yet ensorcelling each story.
I haven’t done one of Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday prompts for a long time. This is for an ekphrastic prompt based on the photo above. It sent me off into mythology, as well as the stars. For most of Colleen’s prompts, you must write a poem using one of the listed syllabic forms. This is a Crapsey Cinquain series—though I don’t think I have the rhythm quite right. First draft.
Linda is hosting the Live Open Link Night for dVerse today. I’m sharing this poem that I wrote in December. It’s a poem inspired by the Magnetic Poetry Oracle. I don’t think too many people here have read it because it was posted on December 26. I missed Sarah’s Poetics prompt this week to write a poem of blue, but it appears that I’ve written many poems about blue!
Breath in—blue fire, the universe’s secrets, the champagne clouds, the blush born in ferocious fever-dances, the aching beauty of after the light-singing stars.
What was so is still the moon whispers, listen and recall the ghost rhythms of time–
and if, the breeze explores, it urges the sky toward spring through the black beneath the storm,
where sea-ships, dream-carriers, sail under a spray of diamonds toward tomorrow.
Happy day after Christmas! Here’s my message from the Oracle. She made me work for this one.
“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
Somewhere in space, impossibly it seems, the stars always sing. They bring to rings of light, celestial rhythm, a chance to dance, a sort of space romance, a stellar pas de deux.
In whirling-waltz, they swirl possibly unaware, of sparks flame-shot in incandescent flares.
A quadrille for dVerse, where De has asked us to use some form of the word possible.
This is for Colleen’s Tanka Tuesday where the theme word is map. Ken’s poem inspired mine. I had intended to write a gogyohka in response, but instead ended up with another shadorma sequence, which is not exactly a response, but when I read his, I thought of signposts.
“This remarkable spiral galaxy, known as NGC 4651, may look serene and peaceful as it swirls in the vast, silent emptiness of space, but don’t be fooled — it keeps a violent secret. It is believed that this galaxy consumed another smaller galaxy to become the large and beautiful spiral that we observe today. Although only a telescope like the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which captured this image, could give us a picture this clear, NGC 4651 can also be observed with an amateur telescope — so if you have a telescope at home and a star-gazing eye, look out for this glittering carnivorous spiral.” Text credit: ESA (European Space Agency) Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Leonard
Listen—
ask a ghost
how the universe wakes
with icy champagne kisses
spiraling in time,
feeding between sound
~and light~
drifts from the stars
you wish upon–
you dream of if
and promises made
with smiles and tears
in the language of hope.
Another puente from my collaboration with the Magnetic Poetry Oracle. I used words from two sets of tiles.
“Powerful gushers of energy from seething stars can sculpt eerie-looking figures with long, flowing veils of gas and dust. One striking example is “the Ghost of Cassiopeia,” officially known as IC 63, located 550 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia the Queen.” Image Credits: NASA, ESA and STScI; Acknowledgment: H. Arab (University of Strasbourg)
Beneath the brown,
a seed grows green,
see?
Beneath the frost,
nature murmurs a song,
listen
as after the rain,
spring sings of time
in a fall of pink petals
and ghosts sail
through a universe
of if
with star rhythms
they dazzle—
and we embrace the fire
from a champagne cloud,
remembering
like a night kiss,
the brilliance of eternity
lingering
in our blood.
I took words from three sets of tiles, and the Oracle and I collaborated on this poem. Mostly her, I just added the articles and such. I think the link is still open for Open Link Night on dVerse, where Lillian is hosting from her vacation retreat, so I’m linking this there.
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