2013 Poem 15: Massaging the Numbers

The numbers slide and pulse and writhe.
Some insist on strict identities
but others are content to be flexible,
submissively morphing as needed
to best meet a mate above or below
and leave their sides of the bar together.

We're not building bridges or designing planes.
We're not fighting disease or auditing books.
Two wrongs don't make a right
but π and e can make a ten.



----

This didn't end up where I thought it was going, but maybe it ended up where it needed to be.

2013 Poem 14: The Sincerest Form

This is a page taken from R. A. Gray's "The Life and Work of Tycho Brahé", published in 1923 in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (vol. 17). This type of "redacted poetry" is something I've never seen before the last year or so, and only through the work of Christine Reuter aka "tychogirl" who ends up with some amazing visual and written components. It's really a whole lot harder than it looks (and I didn't do a terribly good job, requiring arrows and all), but I thought I'd give it a shot as an homage. She really does great non-redacted poetry too, and her fans and colleagues are all hoping she does more of that too (hint)...

2013 Poem 13: A stoic, icy mask

Orbiting for eons at the edge of our consciousness,
how many astronomers saw you and dismissed you?
Losing you in the cacophony of faint stars
until an oboist picked out your melody and named you for his king.
Not the last time your name has met with giggles,
even now as it's like a Muse's.

In the last centuries we've found you to be ringed
but using a different jeweler than your showy brother:
You prefer darker, sleeker, thinner adornment,
though you show it off by bending at the waist.

Our first encounter showed a stoic, icy mask.
Spending time with Juliet and Desdemona and Ophelia
might have taught you to keep much inside in the face of tragedy,
even as challengers took to the heavens.
How many astronomers see you and dismiss you, still?
Still, the game is afoot for a return engagement.
Perhaps we'll make it back within a year of our first visit.

2013 Poem 12: Millions of unsampled asteroids

Millions of unsampled asteroids
in your neighborhood.
Guaranteed!

One weird tip
for scoring higher
with proposal reviewers.

LOTTERY NOTIFFICATION
CONFIRM BANK INFO FOR YOUR
PERMISSION TO ATEND ANY CONFERENCE!

Are you embarrassed
by the size of your
space program?

2013 Poem 11: What made us fall in love

Come, my dear friend.
We suffer too much
and we're losing touch
with what made us fall in love.

Lay beside me.
The light from the stars
miraculous still,
informed by what makes them shine

Pore over maps
from such distant shores--
simpler times' relics.
Though some may think us relics.

Drink with me now--
tarry a moment.
The future will keep
and the planets still circle.



---

Doesn't seem relevant to planets, but it's very much inspired by planetary science...

2013 Poem 10: The Waterless Beach

Another day on the beach.
UV index at 11+
and the forecast calls for a drizzle
of  tiny stones at rocket speeds.

Even the sand is sweating,
beads of iron leading to an uneven tan.
The tide is out. The tide is always out.
Might be a good day to stay indoors;
I burn easily.

2013 Poem 9: Unreflective and Blue?

Middle child,
your big sister's shape has been turning heads
can a team in her orbit be far behind?
And though your younger, fair-skinned sibling
inspired virgins to ecstasy,
she promiscuously sent her calling cards
hither and yon.

You take some time to get to know.
Water surged in your veins,
the stuff of life throughout your body.
Now with your family
you take a different angle.

And so you abide.
Found by accident, hard to reach.
You may be seen as unreflective and blue,
but the wisdom of the ages are carried in your bones.