Cabinet of curiosities created from Mars Curiosity Rover images. Rover image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
What curiosity can we house
within four walls
now that we’ve touched down
in the next backyard?
What prize will stay put
in partitioned space
and homestead there
and never dream
of the next room
content to be contained
and not instinctively
roam?
The Golden Record, launched on Voyagers 1 and 2 in 1977. Image credit: Credit NASA/JPL/Caltech.
In summary,
we’re sending you this record
because here on Earth
we sing
we greet each other
we marvel
at an X-rayed hand
beside the “Rite of Spring”
and strands of DNA
unraveling
pieces of ourselves
assembled
just once
for you
believe us
as you listen
we love
down to the smallest
groove.
Ithaca Chasma on Saturn’s moon, Tethys, photographed by Cassini. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.
Yawning hollow
there to be crossed
or stared into
or both
take your pick
hesitate
legs dangling
on the edge
of the scarps
or descend
on the scars
a moon made
into paths.
“Without monsters and gods, art cannot enact a drama.” –Mark Rothko
Without monsters and gods
Artist’s conception of a supermassive black hole. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
the cosmic egg
never gets coiled up
and strangled
into bits
by a snake
to make an earth
much less
sky and ocean
and Cronus
eats gruel
and stars
never grow
or succumb
instead
the monotony
of the small
and insignificant
blankets
nothing pulled
or devoured
no drama
to move us.
“The Editor: The Journal of Information for Literary Workers,” Volume 46 (published August 15, 1917) redacted into a poem.
Brown dots indicate where Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter’s atmosphere in July 1994. Image credit: NASA/Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team
In lieu of a comet
send this poem
to punch the atmosphere
of another world
and scar on impact
and seed water
everywhere
the words no longer intact
but somehow still mine.
Our solar system. Image credit: NASA.
Congress is currently considering NASA’s FY14 budget. Support planetary sciences funding by contacting your congressman or congresswoman or tweet your support to #fundPlanetary.
I want it back
that jar full of quarters
I earned from chores
protected from a brother
under penalty of DEATH
so I could buy
that toy
waiting on the shelf.
I want it back
and you can have
that Mickey Mouse magician toy
its hands too slow
and always revealing
the trick.
I know what I want
from the jar now
will barter and beg
for what grade school teachers
hawked to us in science class
the only advertising
painted foam ball planets run through with wire rings
the real wares
we were told
further out
and suspended
magically
have to see it to believe it!
no wires!
and no sleight of hand necessary.
Yeah, I’m saving my jar for that.
Pluto and its moons. Cerberus was recently proposed as a name for the moon currently designated P5. Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope / NASA
Want to visit dead places?
You’ll have to pass
the three-headed dog first
and yes, he bites
so if you’re still living
bring a substitute
fresh meat
or a lullaby
and hope for the best
get in close
stroke his fur
speak in a high voice
assure him
that you belong
in the icy ring
on the other side
you, calm and dead
as those small rocks
and as he rolls onto the floor
sated
and dreams of flesh
slip unnoticed
through the gate
into the cold.
Frontispiece to “Libro de música de vihuela de mano intitulado El maestro,” by 16th century Spanish composer Luis de Milán.
Never mind Eurydice.
She’ll find her own way back.
Write this poem for me, please,
with or without your lyre
and really make it sing
the words sublimating
off your tongue
more exhaled
than spoken
a whisper in dry ice
creeping outward
to the last planet
a message sent
from me
in case I never
make it there.
Barbie adorned in tin foil. (They don’t make astronaut clothing for Barbies anymore.) Background image is Tycho Crater (the planned landing site for Apollo 20 before mission was scrubbed.) Crater image credit: Hubble Space Telescope , NASA, ESA, and D. Ehnrenreich.
Eyes on her gimbals
with the same straight stare
she gives Ken
when he waxes his car
she brings her in
over the craters
one eye out the window
hands on the controls
watching her Newtons
maneuvering the LM
as easily
as the Kenmobile
standing
shoeless
on her tippy toes
pink heels
kicked off to the side
we all see a little dust kicking up now
then the lights
contact!
the girl
has landed
a girl
has landed.
