Sunday, July 7, 2013

Sunday Poetry: Cosmic Comics






Cosmic Comics


The moon said dream
The stars spun themselves sick
The planets refused to be named
The comets grew some ice balls
The muon micro-secondly lapped his milk 
The asteroid played a rock guitar
The red giant noshed on a white dwarf
The exoplanet was, like, far out
The quark could not be pinned down
The globular star clusters got fat
The anti-matter cried Uncle!
The sun spotted his dashiki
The nebula rode a horse like crazy 
The cosmic ray stuck his nose in everything
The meteor ironed her blouse
The white noise considered dark matter
The Aurora bored Alice
The nutrinos passed through the toll gate
The Magellanic Cloud went south
The super nova blew his nose
The neutron star careened out of control
The black hole ate my homework
The singularity bragged she was edgy
The Andromeda strained the jelly
The Milky Way left the lights on
And Orion belted out his songs.
                                    
                                      --S.K.
                                              





5 comments:

  1. Dear, Ms Shaw,

    Your whimsical utterance instantly made me think of a piece by Robert Frost. I can't help but wonder if you were in some way either directly or obliquely influenced or inspired by the following?


    ____ Departmental ____


    An ant on the tablecloth
    Ran into a dormant moth
    Of many times his size.
    He showed not the least surprise.
    His business wasn't with such.
    He gave it scarcely a touch,
    And was off on his duty run.
    Yet if he encountered one
    Of the hive's enquiry squad
    Whose work is to find out God
    And the nature of time and space,
    He would put him onto the case.
    Ants are a curious race;
    One crossing with hurried tread
    The body of one of their dead
    Isn't given a moment's arrest-
    Seems not even impressed.
    But he no doubt reports to any
    With whom he crosses antennae,
    And they no doubt report
    To the higher-up at court.
    Then word goes forth in Formic:
    "Death's come to Jerry McCormic,
    Our selfless forager Jerry.
    Will the special Janizary
    Whose office it is to bury
    The dead of the commissary
    Go bring him home to his people.
    Lay him in state on a sepal.
    Wrap him for shroud in a petal.
    Embalm him with ichor of nettle.
    This is the word of your Queen."
    And presently on the scene
    Appears a solemn mortician;
    And taking formal position,
    With feelers calmly atwiddle,
    Seizes the dead by the middle,
    And heaving him high in air,
    Carries him out of there.
    No one stands round to stare.
    It is nobody else's affair
    It couldn't be called ungentle
    But how thoroughly departmental


    ~ Robert Frost (1874-1963)

    PS: I was amused once again to be reminded that Robert Frost, whom we so closely associate with rural New England was born in CALIFORNIA. Proving once again that "things are seldom what they seem," or are at least far more complex. ;-)


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  2. Mr. Free Thinke,

    I may have read the poem years and years ago when I was reading Mr. Frost's poems, but I doubt it influenced me here.

    Each line in the poem refers to an actual property or quality of the cosmic entity or phenomenon.

    Example: meteors are mostly iron, so I used "iron" in that line. Asteroids are space rocks, so I used "rock" in that line. Mr. Kenawe contributed the "muon" line, which suggested "mew" and hence, the milk image. We had to confirm the fact that it exists for only a micro-second. Globular star clusters were described as "fat" in an Astronomy of the Day photo. The horese the nebula rides refers to the horse head nebula, neutrinos pass through everything, including toll gates, etc., etc.

    Thanks for reading and reminding me of Frost's poem.

    I knew he was born in California. Jay Parini wrote a wonderful bio of Frost years ago.

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  3. Your whimsical, poetic observations
    Are very clever, even brilliant, Ma'am.
    Since my knowledge and my understanding
    Of Science can't claim to be up to date --
    And never were at any time advanced --
    I like them more, thus give praise to you on
    Sharing explanation of a "muon." ;-}

    In a spirit of fun --it could hardly qualify as competition -- I offer the following:

    _ Common Sense Couplets _


    A bifurcated bird can't fly

    Bifurcation causes it to die.



    A bifurcated plane

    Causes passengers great pain.



    Dying in a crash

    Negates the need for cash.



    Without the left the right
    
Would have nothing left to fight.



    Without the right the left

    Would of purpose be bereft.



    A struggle for each breath

    Is the thing that staves off death.



    These common sense banalities

    May bore, but they're realities.



    ~ FT

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  4. funny and clever. thanks.

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  5. LOVE. IT! Not sure which line I like best- meteor ironing or comet growing ice balls. It's fun. Thanks for sharing.

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