2013 Poem 7: In a field by Hook Mountain

In the field by Hook Mountain
chill suburban skies
were starry and cloudless,
yet the air hung with lush possibility
in the days when Pioneers
and Vikings explored
alien shores.

The telescopes at the party
would be dwarfed
by those I'd use a decade later
but they all looked giant to me.
And all were well-loved,
dobs and newtonians alike.

M13 and the Ring Nebula
held little appeal to me.
It was a different ring
that led to my engagement.

The first view was a jolt.
It really looked like  they said it would,
pale and perfect, ansa to ansa.
A platonic ideal of itself
even today.

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SaturnRuthCrisp18feb06.jpg)

2013 Poem 6: विज्ञान के स्वर्ण युग अब शुरू होता है

Basaltic crunch
Hiss of valves
Sister starts to spill her secrets.

Shukra's greenhouse poisoned
acrid and arid.
Please teach us
how to maintain
our own.
Earth science is
planetary science.

Magellan and early mariners
blazed a trail
before they got distracted,
and thought the
wealth
of new worlds
only lay in gold and silver.

But a patient people
will find the true riches
of further Indies,
and gems assayed
from Lakshmi Planum.

2013 Poem 5: Limiting Magnitude

born in the big bang
an atom dies today
so light may be born.
it embraces the pressure at last
and in its metamorphosis,
a quantum conservation of
hν

photon emerges,
bumps and jostles.
by the time it surfaces
it could have traversed the galaxy.
born before Lucy,
it finally makes its debut.

in a few hours or less,
the photon knows what we do not.
changed by its knowledge
of Europa or Titan
or Mars or Triton,
upon reflection it heads our way.

telescope waits with welcoming eye,
desert summer night,
thesis in the balance.
shoulders of giants eager to add
another luminary.

desert summer night,
a lovely night to pull out the driver.
it may cost a lot to light this course
so that it's bright as day
and the course a mile away
and the mini-mart across the street
and the billboards advertising botox
and the billboards advertising billboards
and the casino
and the casino parking lot
and the resort
and the mini-mart next to the resort
and the other casino with the outer space theme.
but it's so worth it.
it's not like there's any reason not to, right?

(top:http://chawedrosin.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/light-pollution-tenerife-canary-islands/
bottom: from http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/light-pollution-map/)

2013 Poem 4: When things were retrograde

Sketch pad and pencil
Under starry vault.
Watch and wait.
Libya then Syrtis, Chryse then Arcadia.
Eye to lens, pencil to paper.
Count to 360, then start again.
All things to those who wait.

now paper seems so yestersol.
our arrays could spot a C8
on the surface
in hyper spectral superresolution
with 16-bit precision.
roll to yogi, sight to mermaid.
we go where we want, we see what we want.
why would we wait?
we hold whole worlds in dextrous hands,
forcing east and north to conform
to our fingers.

2013 Poem 3: Frost Line

We can say some worlds began in fire,
And other ones in ice.
When first circling in its gyre
Our Earth was on the side of fire.
But once Jove began to roll the dice
And comets flew to meet their fate,
Is this how Earth got water ice?
There is debate
To be precise.

(Image from http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1213/Geminid-meteor-shower-why-spectacular-light-show-puzzles-scientists, credited to Daniel Aguilar/REUTERS/File)

2013 Poem 2: Part of Something Larger

From broken homes they come.
Worlds apart
wracked by havoc,
torn asunder
by merciless bombardment

Families drift apart.
Cast aside by parents
and bullied by sunshine
some still seek the only lasting warmth
they've experienced
Like moths to the flame
the inward spiral begins.

Some refugees alight on our shores
at entry points like
Allende, Zag, Peekskill or Tagish Lake.
Here they go under the scalpel for science
Or sit admired in museums
Or again simply become
part of
something larger.

2013 Poem 1: Empty Space is So Intimidating

start at the beginning
it's made to sound so easy.
one moment a blank page
empty space
a few equations, then
a solar system.

dust from dust,
the charnel dust of stars
that spoke the deplorable words.
that shocking, divine hammer.
what would follow?

it's made to sound so easy.
but empty space is so intimidating.

a kilogram of dust
in a million cubic meters.
cairns for a trail
that could go anywhere.

an armful of oranges
scattered through the Astrodome
coming together to make a fruit basket.
six septillion fruit baskets
finding each other
to make our world.

----

OK, I kind of took a weird turn at the end. I had a few different ideas, combined a few, and mercifully left at least one out.  Still, it's a start.  :)