Near Earth Asteroid

Impact Earth

Coming Close

Near Earth Asteroid

comin’ from the sun
a whisker away from Earth;
whiskin’ from one direction
whizzin’ by in another

sling-shot space rock
rims off our planet
skims off gravitational well
like a perilous mass of rubble

might sail by harmlessly
at a butt-clenchingly close gap
might pass inside
the ring of manmade satellites

narrowly missing
the bull’s eye; its image may
get trapped inside a dish
or it could fade into the beyond

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Brian Miller asked me to write this in honor of the asteroid that is coming way too close tomorrow. Well, it’s a space poem, how could I NOT write it?  Thanks Brian, for putting me up to this.

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Theme Thursday for December 1, 2011 – INSIDE

Photo Credit: Not sure, got them from Brian Miller

Delivered

Fireman- Delivered

Had you been delivered in the swirl of a dustbowl
         On the brightest bands of the rainbow
         On the sharpest rays of the sun
I could not be more in awe of your radiance.

If your words were more wise
then the combined encyclopedic summary of all sagacity
I could not be more attentive to your discourse.

Were your voice deeper than the trembling of the earth
          Or the rumbling of a collapsing glacier
          Or the trumpet of a bull elephant
I would think you no more a man.

If there were a dictionary of laudations, praise and exaltation:
There would not be sufficient words to express my respect for you.

Would the softness of your caring be more tender,
were you kindness more nurturing,
I would never wean of your love,
think only this of me.

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

I posted this for: monday-morning-writing-prompt – “writing-a-feeling”

Also posted on:

If I should die, think only this of me

Prompt # 117

Also posted on:  Memory–Write2Day

Picture from :  New York Daily News  Firefighter Official Calendar

Sonnet XXIV

Rare Green Flash From the Moon

Light from the moon hits Earth’s dense atmosphere
in the low opaque areas that are wet.
Then the apparent lunar photosphere
emits green light as Luna starts to set.
The grey moon seems orange in the dark sky,
then a rare flash appears out of nowhere,
as a giant prism paints verdant die
and a blazing mirage seems to hang there.
Lunar soil releases ionic
streams as it is hit by the solar winds.
Then it wears a crown that seems demonic
’til the moon in the sky sets and rescinds.
The air helps bend light into frequencies
like weaving bright threads of embroideries.

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

I just found out about this phenomenon today on the New Scientist page . Then I wrote this sonnet.

Digg Newsrooms also has some interesting comments.

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The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! – #85

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Prompt 217: Verdant

Sonnet XXVIII

North of the Himalayas Taken April 21 2011 from ISS

A giant wedge, forced up on a summit.
The melted rock on crumbled mountain tops.
The nuggets of silvery snow sunlit
on the landscape. The inverted planet drops
off in a land of ribcage hill torrents.
Expiring geophysical breaths
dissipate in thin air. An act warrants
a vaporized battle to ensue. Deaths
of sediments squeeze onto plates. Trivia
tells that magnetic deposits today,
are charged by Earth’s fields. Here, where India
and Asia crashed, crust was carried away.
Since much is veiled, this view only reports
mountains with crowns of luminescent quartz.

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

This shot was posted by @Astro_Ron on Earthday of 2011.  Ron Garan is a New Yorker, like me. He flew F-16’s as a test pilot, in USAF, around the time I was a test engineer for at the 416th at Edwards, yet I never met him. : (

You can read more about him http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/garan-rj.html

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The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! – #79

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

The Earth

Earth As Taken by Apollo 17

The Earth As Seen From Apollo 17

Clouds weave quick patterns like silken white lace;
No borders are drawn on lands seen from space.
Such beautiful seas, and bounteous lands;
The oceans, the rivers, the snows and sands;
I have searched the universe high and low
Yet cannot detect such a well made show.
It’s hard to define Earth’s magnificent life:
The glory, happiness, sorrow and strife.
It’s pitify man does not fully know
The glory of life: to produce and grow.
Earth’s life’s a marvel, I clearly can see.
I daren’t imagine how no life would be.
Out in the heavens I see my Earth fly
Like a blue-snowy crystal, on black-velvet sky.

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This is the first Sonnet I ever wrote, back in 1972. It is not even a Shakespearean Sonnet. I wrote it while Apollo 17 was returning from the moon to Earth. Jack Schmidt said that he had wished he were a poet so he could write about how beautiful the Earth is. I wrote this sonnet and sent it to him. He must have really liked it because he sent me back a letter thanking me for the poem. Also, 20 years later, I wrote to him again and reminded him that I was the one who sent that poem, and he seemed to remember the poem.

Most of you know the picture above. But some probably don’t know that this is the first full picture of the Earth taken by man. I was lucky enough to meet Gene Cernan in Seattle, back in 2000. I asked him who took the picture, and he said he didn’t know. He said they had one camera, and they all took pictures whenever they saw fit. No one knows exactly who snapped that picture. That’s why, whenever you see the picture, it is credited to the entire crew of Apollo 17.

Here’s a great picture of the crew . The magnificent Saturn V rocket is in the background, and the Lunar Rover is in the foreground. Amazing engineering for the sixties. It’s the technology that got us where we are today.

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Gooseberry Garden

Poetry Picnic Week 14: What I’m Thankful for in My Life

Also published for:

 

poets-rally-week-60

Sonnet XXVI

Sunset over Western South America

Sonnet XXVI

The light scatters in ways no one ever
conceived. The sun’s effects permanently
continue, and there’s no chance to sever
ourselves from power that radiantly
shines on horizon’s edge, for sunlight
is as diffuse as life on earth below.
In orbit, at a superlative height,
the landscape is of mountain and plateau.
Observe the graphic spectacle, more real
than anything a human can witness.
It’s a palace spinning like a Ferris-wheel,
from whence no one leaves, yet all must egress.
On the planet, darkness is divided
by rays of light the sun has provided.

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NASA posted the picture above on the “Earth Observatory/Image of the Day Page.”

@NotAJoe on twitter tweeted the link. After viewing the image, I wrote the following haiku:

on the edge of space
sunlight lights the horizon
diffuse, like earthllife

Then I decided to write the sonnet I posted above. Check out the NASA link if you want to know more about it. The link discusses “the terminator.” Terminator is the changeover between day and night, as seen by someone in orbit.

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Poet’s United

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! – #77