Yesterday was Day 18 of Author Amok's 2015 poem-a-day
project. We are spending February writing in response to sounds.
For a full description of the project and how to
participate, please read this
post. I hope you'll join us. I'll continue posting poems from Day 18
as they come in. I hope to have Day 19 up later this afternoon. Thanks to
everyone who has sent in poems so far. We've written over 90 new poems already
this month!
Our Day 18 prompt is a recording of space sounds. Thank you to
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes for recommending this clip. Did anyone else spot a
human face in Earth’s clouds (at 6:04)? If you did, you might want to look up the word
pareidolia.
I’m sharing some of Mike Ratcliffe’s email about this sound, because
I’m fascinated with how people move from prompt to idea to created object
(poem).
Mike says, “Day 18's sounds really resonated with me. It struck a chord
with my interests in philosophy and metaphysics. Starting from vague
notions about the music of the spheres (not to mention, remembering that, in
Tolkien's Silmarillion, the earth is formed from the harmonious singing of the
lesser gods), my research led me to Pythagoras, who theorized that the Sun,
Moon, and planets each emit a unique tone based on their respective orbital
revolutions. Has science proven Pythagoras right?”
Musica
Universalis
By Mike Ratcliffe
And could it be that we are music
emanating from the stars,
harmonies formed from the
immense monochord, sacred
octaves in a cosmic chant, the
universal hum, the celestial
Om?
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes is contributing her first pantoum ever! Kudos, Michelle.
This poem is an elegy for a friend of Michelle’s who died recently. You can
read more at Michelle’s blog, where she has a post about the poem.
Night Whispers
Whispers from the shadowed night
Lonely winds of time and space
One more poem yet to write
Trapped in gravity's embrace
Lonely winds of time and space
One more poem yet to write
Trapped in gravity's embrace
Lonely winds of time and space
Glowing embers, pulsing light
Trapped in gravity's embrace
Before the blackness turns to white
Glowing embers, pulsing light
Trapped in gravity's embrace
Before the blackness turns to white
Glowing embers, pulsing light,
Like eyes behind a clouded face
Before the blackness turns to white
Before you find your resting place
Like eyes behind a clouded face
Before the blackness turns to white
Before you find your resting place
Like
eyes behind a clouded face
There's one more poem yet to write
Before you find your resting place
And whisper from the shadowed night.
There's one more poem yet to write
Before you find your resting place
And whisper from the shadowed night.
© 2015 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.
Sometimes, when you’re taking on a large subject (e.g. The
Universe), it helps to put it in a box. Using a form can help
a poet contain difficult or vast subject matter. Margaret Simon has a SOLAR
WIND acrostic for us.
Planetary Womb
By Margaret Simon
Space
Outer space of
the gods
Listen to
crystal glass singing
A swarm of bees
Rumble of waves
Wind blown
currents
Into my limited
schema of
Nature--true,
wild,
Distant
Linda Baie’s poem considers some of the moral complexities of
space exploration.
Lost – Them or Us?
Speaking loud,
beast or man,
are you lost?
Do we misunderstand
this outer space
of realms unknown,
interpreting sounds
of a different tone?
Humans here!
Pick up the phone!
We yearn to know
we’re not alone.
Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved
I like how Charles Waters’ poem integrates some of the science
required to capture these sounds.
THE COSMIC
ANTENNA
NASA’s space ears pick up our solar system
Sounding like the purring of winds
Whipping up parched dirt,
Fighter jets darting to their next mission,
Sea conches buzzing hidden messages.
These electromagnetic vibrations
Signify the heartbeat of our cosmos.
(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
I was intrigued by the name Miranda, borrowed from Shakespeare, as
well as the quiet humming voice of the moon named Miranda in today's sound clip. This
moon of Uranus has such an unusual appearance that scientists use unkind terms
in their descriptions of Miranda. I've used some of these in the poem. (P.S. She’s one of five moons in Uranus’
family, so my title is a bit tongue in cheek.)
Sister
Moon
By Laura Shovan
Miranda looks like she was pieced
from parts that never merged,
a lunar Frankenstein’s monster.
Ridges and valleys line her face
like mismatched patches
on a moth-eaten coat.
Even from a distance,
she’s labeled bizarre, deformed.
Why does she look so odd?
It’s the way Uranus squeezes her.
She can’t deny his gravitational pull,
but all that pinching and binding
makes her insides churn.
She boils below the surface,
the wrong kind of heat.
Her icy skin contorts, cracks.
Maybe a word escapes with wind.
Maybe a song.
Patricia VanAmburg stopped in today with a haiku and an exciting bit of space news, which you can read here: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31519875
Earthsong NASA
by Patricia VanAmburg
Galaxy Chirping
No average rite of spring
Mating calls from space
Here are all of the sound prompts for the third week of
February. As promised, I included a couple of sounds from New Mexico:
Sunday, February 15
Video of Santa Fe's Cathedral
Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi by my Albuquerque friend,
Jennifer Lewis.
Monday, February
16
Quaking aspen. Read more about this sound here.
Quaking aspen. Read more about this sound here.
Laughing child
The sounds of space
Friday, February 20
Follow the link to choose your reptile.
You'll need to turn the volume high to hear this one.
If you'd like some poem-starters to wake up your muse, you'll
find them at the bottom of this post. Drop
in any time with a poem. I’ll continue to post your work throughout the month,
no matter which sound you are writing in response to.
Would you like to read what we’ve written so far? Here are links
to the week 2 poems. You can find links to the week 1 poems on all of these
posts:
Sound of Waves
Poems by Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Linda Baie, Laura
Shovan, Margaret Simon, and Charles Waters.
Bubbling
Cauldron Poems by Diane Mayr, Charles Waters, Laura Shovan, and
Buffy Silverman.
Fireworks Poems by
Charles Waters, Diane Mayr, and Laura Shovan.
Classic
Typewriter Sound Poems by Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr,
Charles Waters, Mike Ratcliffe, and Laura Shovan.
Mockingbird
Poems by Linda Baie, Mike Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, Charles
Waters, and Margaret Simon.
Cape Eagle Owl
Call Poems by Linda Baie, Patricia VanAmburg, Charles Waters,
and Diane Mayr.
Male Woodcock
Mating Call Poems by Diane Mayr, Patricia VanAmburg, Mike
Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, Linda Baie, and Charles Waters.
