2016 NaPoWriMo Poem #7: Waiting Impatiently

Cinnamon surface, rarer than saffron
though its taste of old pool water
bars a good mix with blueberries.

In my parents’ time some still
wished you likened
with green flashes and seasonal drought
before an ancient Mariner
found nary a drop to drink.

Project humans to Mars
many might say, waiting impatiently
for a negative to be proven
before we journey
and spread our crap around.

NaPoWriMo Poem #6: Poem Six

maybe
eventually i’ll write about
the elephant in the room
or that’s not in the room
you’ll know if I have
probably
maybe
you’ll know it
by studying the topics
of poems
others have written
(and may write in the future)
and comparing to poems
i haven’t written
and notice a pattern
maybe
others will write poems
about what I’m not
writing a poem about
and you’ll infer
my poem exists
maybe
i wrote the poem
maybe
i’m waiting for a book deal
to let you see it
or not

2016 NaPoWriMo Poem #5: What Not To Expect

we expected swales and ridges,
signatures of an atlas
too relaxed to hold up the world,
content to let things slide.

we expected a world
of pencil lead and chalk,
laxative and kitty litter,
permafrost foam on frozen brine.

after a year
we don’t know
what we have
and we still don’t know
what to expect.

2016 NaPoWriMo Poem #4: With and Without

Our finest schools
are holding pens for teenagers
if nobody tries to teach or learn.
Our most skilled surgeons
are mere butchers
if they operate with no purpose.
Our finest museums
are storage sheds
if we do not
appreciate art

Without science
our greatest voyagers
are shiny curiosities
abandoned
on distant playgrounds.
Without science
the most intrepid odysseys
are taken by
high-end adventure tourists
vicariously checking boxes.

2016 NaPoWriMo Poem #3: On the Dome

The sun has set on the Karoo,
leaving an orange smudge as a
brief reminder.
Jupiter reigns
as the sky’s brightest beacon
while Sirius and Canopus lag behind.
The deeper delights await
darker skies
but we won’t be up here then.

We shouldn’t be up here now,
not this late,
not at all.
We wave furtively to
earthbound colleagues,
scurrying to open their domes
and get to work
while we sit on ours,
finishing our Windhoeks,
considering a second
(or third?)
and talking about everything
and nothing.

Were I asleep
this would be the makings
of a
stress dream.
I am awake enough now
to have a better grasp
of what’s important
and where
stress resides.


----

A little poetic license, for what it's worth. :)

2016 NaPoWriMo Poem #2: Light Is A Bully

light is a bully
if you’re the wrong size
in the wrong place.

it will claw at your surface,
cracking and peeling
your very essence.
it will flip you around
and leave you spinning
until you break.
it will drag you
from a path you’ve followed
for millions upon millions of years
and beyond your control
send you to the heart of the sun
before blasting your ashes away
to the void of interstellar space.

light is a bully
but darkness a thief
that slowly takes and takes
until you equilibrate
with nothing left to give.



----

Video of YORP Spinup from Derek Richardson's multimedia page: https://www.astro.umd.edu/~dcr/gallery.html.
Related paper: Walsh, K.J., Richardson, D.C., Michel, P. 2008. Rotational breakup as the origin of small binary asteroids. Nature 454, 188-191
Also see: Walsh, K.J., Richardson, D.C., Michel, P. 2012. Spin-up of rubble-pile asteroids: Disruption, satellite formation, and equilibrium shapes. Icarus 220, 514-529

2016 NaPoWriMo Poem #1: To An Empty Place

there was enough sparkle
for the landing,
which was not
a small affair.
one flash of light
but no smoking pistol.


there's no sign of life,
just the power to charm.
but do you remember
the bills we have to pay?
after five years
of humble pie or bitter fruit
it seems there’s nothing i can do.




i heard a rumor from ground control
i won’t be king
but no, love, we’re not alone.
if there's life on mars
really never was the point.


---

I'm telling myself that I'm warming up. I'm not even convinced I can call this "my" poem.