The Load ― Remembered

The Load ― Remembered

The metal hanging
from a chain around
his drooping neck ― kept.
His courage ― endures.
His heart ― remembered.
His load ― in pictures.
His cold ghost ― in the beyond.

But no record of back pain.
No recollection of his warmth.
No discussion of limbs,
shorn like Samson’s hair.

Alone, he shivered in the darkness.
He thought of home.
He thought of better days.

Yet nothing could fill the absence
of his soul defeated
by the echoing blast of his first kill.

************************

This is my memorial day contribution.

I got the picture from http://www.ontherightinva.com/2010/05/30/memorial-day-2/

Between Buildings

From the city alley
appraise a sliver of sky.
Streams of clouds
progress in currents.

Through windows,
saxophones
and treble voices
compete for bandwidth.

In the city alley
the superhero waits
to explode/to save
the world from itself.

************************

 Posted on:

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! – #75

Also posted on:

poets-rally-week-63

His organization is Fragile Oasis  and he’s also on facebook.

Again, I won’t usually be writing free form poetry on this blog, unless it’s there for a reason. It looks like I might actually have a periodic reason: these “One Stop Poetry Challenges.” This time I’m writing in response to the Photography of Scott Wyden.”  The website is:

http://onestoppoetry.com/2011/05/sunday-photography-interview-scott-wyden-poetry-challenge.html

Sonnet XXXIII

Illustration of the frame-dragging effect in which space and time are dragged around a massive body

Newton thought space and time were absolute
then Einstein discussed relativity.
It was easy to prove an attribute
of an attractive force: captivity
of bodies, was not new. Now imagine
a planet immersed in honey: as it
rotates, it swirls and pulls with an action
much like spinning space time. In an orbit
around the earth, four precise gyroscopes
measure this effect. Quantized current flows
until it detects magnetic stream slopes
differential. A spin-axis opposes
new directions. The strength of gravity
can’t match the speed of light’s velocity.

************************

This sonnet is about gravity Probe B (GP-B), a mission sponsored by NASA aimed to prove the effects of Albert Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity.

Rather than quoting them verbatim, you can read more about this project on:

http://einstein.stanford.edu/MISSION/mission1.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/gpb/gpb_results.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4dc2487ce8ed9dc6,0

Posted on:

Open Link Night, Week 27

Sonnet XXXII

The Space Station's Massive Solar Arrays

The Space Station’s golden solar arrays
squeeze out the last morsel of energy
from each orbit. An instrument surveys
all dosages of power at every
diurnal spin as they revolve around
the planet. Large measures of power will
be sucked into the batteries. Compound
silicon solar cells dominate. Still,
it is the rotary joint that lets
the panels track the sun and seize
the rays. ISS spins until it sets
into shadow. It performs this with ease
just like a geometry, zipping all through
limited plasma fields of cobalt blue.

************************

This comes from @Astro_Ron ‘s (Ron Garan)  http://twitpic.com/4s3pix

This was a difficult sonnet to write in that it contained many engineering concepts. In general, it’s easier to incorporate science into poetry than it is to incorporate engineering.

Posted on:

Open Link Night, Week 26

Owl In Flight

Upswept Wings

Cherry orchard sandlots,
rolling terrain of rye.

At the keel,
sternum flutters.
Contoured feathers,
streamlined flight.

Vigilant search for rations.
Scanning from the clouds.
Aerial stillness passing.
Hunger seems to last.

Movement detected.
Gliding high above.

Brief stillness in air.
Ready for the dive.
Falling on approach.

************************

I am posting this one for the “One Stop Poetry Challenge – the Photography of Fee Easton” .

Also posted on:

Gooseberry Garden

Poetry Picnic Week 9 : Longing, Loss, Loosing and Failure

Sonnet XXXI

Oddly Off-Kilter NGC 2442

Even a galaxy may be off kilter ―
not shaped like a pristine bilateral
spiral. Light streaks outward through a filter,
it seems, when snatched by a collateral
body. Free-floating hydrogen was drawn
into tangible streamer vanes of gas;
dust yanked like taffy, with endless brawn,
from the main arm. Clusters of stars surpass
a single bright light in beauty, but can’t
match up to a more exquisite rival,
like Andromeda or Whirlpool; the scant
are ripped by those larger and more frightful.
Cosmic layouts shaped like feathers and tails:
mind-numbing forces, energies and scales.

************************

This comes from “The delicate aftermath of cosmic violence” , on @badastronomer’s Discover Magazine blog.

Posted on  Poetry Picnic Week 12: Feathers, Fidelity, Figment, and Fables

Posted on:

Open Link Night, Week 25

Sonnet XXX

Galactic Collision

Galactic collision occurred in space
at the rim of the universal plane.
The spiral arms, distorted from the base
of the center, were flung out with much strain.
A supermassive black hole gobbled up
matter that was obviously not dust.
The singularity appeared to sup
on its immense neighbor. In the robust
bright point resource, blasting out X-ray beams,
a plethora of objects that looked blue,
populated Gemini. Dust, it seems
hid energy. Gravity will ensue ―
the smaller body will finally lose;
as ripped, torn gases snap off and diffuse.

************************

This comes from

This comes from @badastronomer’s Discover Magazine blog .

Posted on:

Open Link Night, Week 24

Sonnet XXV

Julie Carter's Painted Wall by Jessica Witting

All Painters Agitate Reality

All painters agitate reality.
They impose particular significance,
causing essential virtuality
to be depicted with magnificence.
Using old technique, but new conventions,
an abstraction deviates from the norm.
A dabbling flirt with the three dimensions
can fashion the way the painters perform.
Their sensations become speculations ―
creating contours with fine brush strokes, a
profound intellectualization,
and extravagant chromatic soufflé.
Revealing sacred contours of their soul
would not have been the painters’ firsthand goal.

*********************

@jflamingo2 is a twitter friend of mine. One morning, she asked me to write her a painting poem.

I wasn’t sure what she meant, so I read some of her blogs and saw that she painted sets in her hometown theater. I assumed this was arduous work and she required some motivation.

I originally wrote a villanelle. I set out by doing some cursory research on painters and painting. I needed some ideas, so I just read quotes by a few abstract painters, for example, Picasso.

When I was finished, I sent it to her, and then set off to use the research to write a sonnet. This is the result.

I was quite flattered to have someone “commission” a poem from me. So flattered, that Julie ended up with two poems. When I started this blog, I asked  her for a picture. She gave me some samples, but noted that there were a few on her facebook page. I chose this picture. I hope Julie does not mind, but, for more about Julie, see her facebook page.

Posted on:

Open Link Night ~ Week 23