Upcoming Single Release: MarcoPolo

With April and National Poetry Writing Month in the rear-view mirror, it's back to putting music in the Imperturbable Music blog. So I hope to get a single up on the Bandcamp site in the next few weeks.

The A-side (or what would have been the A side if there were such things any more) will be "MarcoPolo", a song written about the proposed European asteroid sample return mission MarcoPolo-R (MPR). It was a request of the MPR Principal Investigator, who liked Down on Vesta well enough to commission a song from me at a group dinner in Barcelona. Or maybe it was all the alcohol.  Regardless, I found someone to sing the French verse and the whole Gedankenband lends their vocal as well as instrumental...stylings to the song.

I'm planning on pairing two B-sides with MarcoPolo at this point. The first is a proper recording of Liara, my tribute to a fictional blue alien babe, which appeared here in a demo version just after it was recorded. The second is a solo acoustic version of OBAFGKM. That one, at least, is done.

I'm hoping to get permission to use some artwork from the MPR mission, so with luck that'll happen quickly.  We'll see if that'd be lucky for you or not. :)

Post-NaPoWriMo Bonus Poem

First, thanks for all the support during National Poetry Writing Month.  It's been wonderful to go through the experience with colleagues old and new and read some great new stuff.  As difficult as it was at times, I'm already looking forward to next year.

With that, I wanted to post one extra poem.  It seemed a bit too...something to end the month on, so I'll just start May with it.  After all, the point of NaPoWriMo isn't to write or post poetry in April alone. :)  So here's one I wrote early in the month, inspired by a friend's professional travails and a phrase she used in describing them.

-----

science is a sometimes friend
the kind who'll encourage you
to sit down at the popular kid table
then laugh at you behind your back
for your pretension.

science is a sometimes friend
who'll poke you when you daydream
and tell you should be working harder
and ask you why you aren't Einstein.

science is a sometimes friend
who'll tell you that your'e not all that
and who'll drive away people
you really like
so that they wonder
if you'll still like them
even if they can't be friends with science
because it broke their hearts
too often.

science is a sometimes friend
who'll sneak into your dorm room
late at night
thinking you're asleep
and whisper "i love you"
but you hear and remember every word.

----

Again, thanks for your support! I expect to go back to mostly posting homemade music of varying quality until next April, hopefully you'll return to listen to that stuff here and at the Gedankenband website, too.  :)

2013 Poem 30: Some Molecules

Uncounted septillions of molecules collide and jostle,
Each interacting with a group of neighbors.
We look at it all and reduce the aggregate to a number,
Whether we prefer Fahrenheit, Celsius, or Kelvin.

And we go through our lives, slouching or grooving,
Each interacting with friends or colleagues.
We look at it all and try to reduce it to a word,
History or society or fate or providence.

We don't know which specific molecule we'll breathe
And make a part of us for a little while.
We just know that it'll happen
As long as we don't put ourselves in a stupid situation.

Some molecules make their way to the edge of space
And break free the surly bonds of gravity.
Perhaps they'll impact the Moon and chill
Or head straight for the exits, lightborne.

Yet, the molecules have no agency, no curiosity,
No science to guide them.
How much better could we do, not just for a privileged few!
As long as we don't put ourselves in a stupid situation.

2013 Poem 29: Scale

There are many solar systems,
some you can explore on foot.
Start at the Sun,
medicine ball or grapefruit
or a big circle on the ground.

A few paces takes you through
the habitable zone,
barely noticeable compared
to gas giants
sitting in South Station
or ringed in Westfield.

You may think you've gone too far
and missed the ice giants
but they're there.
Whether you find anything beyond
is perhaps more opinion than science.

2013 Poem 28: Cap Cloud

We write about the best nights
but we remember the worst ones.
Nights circled on the calendar with
hope and anticipation,
with full target lists and schedules
but ending with disappointment
and empty log books.

Like placeholder lyrics to half-written songs
or short stories amid writer's block,
with howling winds and freezing fog,
loose cables and bad ephemerides,
a cap cloud that sits over you alone.

Still, the best times do more than pay the rent.
When the sky is steady and the nights are long
you can feel the wonder in your bones,
as you watch the clouds pass by
on other planets.

2013 Poem 27: The Blank Page

The blank page is perfect.
Full of possibilities,
free of mistakes.
But I can't put it on my CV.

The asteroid is affectless.
Doing what it has always done,
since before life began.
But that night we watched it.

The photons are reflected.
Collected by detector,
turned into numbers.
But I don't understand them.

The cursor is blinking.
The clock is ticking.
The co-authors are waiting.
The blank page is perfect.

2013 Poem 26: Science Fiction

I grew up liking
Luke over Kirk
and Han over Luke.
I preferred Buck to Flash,
but never took any calls
from the Doctor.

No Valentines for me
nor Hari Seldon,
but I was an aspirant
to the Baltimore Gun Club
and longed to fly over Magrathea
in its heyday.

And now I see
the pile of unread books
on the shelf,
the folder
of unread pdfs
and upcoming reviews
on the calendar.
How much science fiction
do I encounter still?

---

In case it matters, this is meant more playfully than accusingly. :)