24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
There is no time here in the darkness, I float watching my
home spin an endless merry go round of lights and smog,
this body is dying sinking in upon itself, setting me free, once
I thought freedom was a rich mans luxury, now I know different,
my spirit shakes itself from its mortality, from its death and imagines
everything and knows it no longer has those desires it stretches and
it is galaxies away humanity a vague memory on its journey.
-s.j.duncan-
space explorers
on the hunt for
another bubble
Even the dark
In all its vastness
Cannot compare
To the beauty
In light
We are the dust
Of the cosmos
Sparkling brought
Leading each other
Through another night
Some crashing
Others thrashing
Where did that gravity go?
Now, I’m laughing
Thinking about
“Space Madness”
Big red buttons pushed
Obsessive genius, OCD’s
blame it on bowie
you always wanted to go into space –
maybe it was Bowie’s fault.
I never understood the appeal of the stars as a travel destination
but I know you loved it so I tried to understand.
I love the physics –
what I understand
of quasars,
nebulae,
constellations,
and shooting stars bringing us messages from distant suns.
the science saves the rest.
I don’t want to fly or dive or die
in space where no one hears you scream.
I can’t do that.
But I know you love it,
so I try to understand.
R. L. Elke
(C)Aug 5/17 prompt 19
Space is ever-expanding, always holding more and more mysteries to explore and analyze.
But there might be areas of that endless expanse where Mortals were never meant to trod.
Places whose very existence or site would burn through their souls,
Corrupting their very existence,
And transforming them into unnatural beings that strayed from an evolutionary path that had been specified in genomes and DNA.
Darkness from that cold vacuum of space would seep in and infect beings that were never made to stray too far from their sun,
Who thrive on warmth and Light,
Kline its way into them and altering them to be unrecognizable and horrific.
So maybe the gimmick of exploration and Discovery past the eye, and telescopes, and space shuttles can see was never meant to extend so far.
Maybe Darkness shouldn’t be left alone, to hold its own dominion, over its own patch of space.
there is a space
where opposites brush up against each other
and make each other possible
like the space between music notes on a staff
played on the trumpet
where one note must end
before the other can begin;
a space where dark becomes light
a space where cold becomes hot
a space where up becomes down
a space where north becomes south
a space where I become you
and a space where you become me
a space that only God can fill
a space of infinite ending
19 2017 Space the new frontier
Flight of Fancy
by Paul Robert Sanford
Tinker Belle sprinkled us with just a little too much pixie dust,
and Peter Pan led us out the window, zooming past Neverland into space.
We saw the most wonderful things.
After we left the highest flying birds below,
we zoomed past a few airplanes
then satellites and on to the moon!
The moon was very much as one would imagine it,
all crunky with holes and dust,
not at all the kind of place to set up a cricket pitch,
so we moved on.
We were lucky to come upon Mars in its orbit
it isn’t always so easy to find.
It looked rather rusty and not at all civilized.
It’s moons were little jewels, and sister fawned over them.
Phobos – what’s the name of the one closer to Mars?
Bottomos was the reply. Served her right for asking.
The asteroids were fun.
They come in all sizes, and, since they are in space
they are quite weightless,
so it was possible to pitch several of quite good size,
although it took some effort to overcome inertia,
and we scooted in the opposite direction.
We passed Saturn’s showy display of rings at a distance,
and as we neared Jupiter’s moons
sister insisted that the baby was tired and needed to nap,
and the depths of dark cold space were hardly ideal,
so we headed back, making quite good time.
This time we made it to Neverland and had a massive lot
of jolly adventures that rivaled our trip through space
and were not nearly so cold and quiet.
If you get a chance to visit the planets of the solar system,
I suggest you eschew the company of girls and babies.
The Platinum Rule –
treat others as THEY wanted to be treated
as against
The Golden Rule –
treat others as YOU wanted to be treated
What is it then?
Platinum Rule is respect for others and self-effacing
while Golden Rule is self-preservation and self-respect.
The Latter, YOU is a resolute whereas
The Former is a reaction from a perception of people
you run counter with
The Former a pleaser, the Latter, a take-it-or-leave-it stance.
Whichever, one thing for sure
you cannot be a Platinumist (is there such a word?)
and a Goldener (stretching too far!) at the same time.
A love I nurture alone
in the dark, the late latest part of the night I can reveal myself
Alone.
No one expects a show from me
So here I dropped the heavy mask I Dawn every morning.
Here I can love you.
Quietly and secretly awaiting the Supreme goddess of love Aphrodite to recognize and reunite us.
I will sit alone in my love.
tell me the tale
that doesn’t feature
ballot boxes
emphysema
crippling debt
balaclavas
innocent death
pavlova petrol
red diesel
tiger exhaustion
and TB times,
rickets
bigots
better days
tarmac
teeth
peat
and a drop of the black
no tan
the pull
of homeland
with each harp string
rub of the know
with every verse
donations
demonstrations
white horses
dead donkeys
murals
barstools
lambeg thrum
borstal hoolies
& dayglow rosaries
basalt steps
on plastic knees
gintonic smiles
of many heroes
neolithic
optimistic
starch
malt
soda
talk
corrupting fathers
beasting mothers
liberation
alliternation
wire glasses
and cobbled palms
postal men
serve frankless treaties
white stone
red rust
and green green turf
bands forced up
thank feck
to make
your hair stand on end,
tell me that tale –
but it won’t be worth
a listen.