Their high mass tears at
pierces a pale sky
pulls at the high oranges
stealing it for their icy peaks.
As the mother planet rises,
methane snows glint
like golden crowns.
Copyright © 2019 Kim Whysall-Hammond
‘Mountains of the Moon’ was first published by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Associations print journal Star*Line, October 2019
Lurking in a distant corner
That darkly reflective black tube
Of outsize length
Adorned with intricate knobs
And several precise gauges
Alien amongst our bright furnishings
Held tight by many adjustable clamps
It perches on a tall chromed tripod
Close to the door, angled , straining to escape
To collect starlight in its hidden mirrors once again
But now capped and dusty
Ornamental more than used
Copyright © 2020 Kim Whysall-Hammond
I really need to use my Telescope more often!
Unimaginably ancient, preserving moments in time;
billion year old pebbles from unknown floods
bones fallen into an ancient abyss
ten thousand year old footprints along an English estuary.
Sitting on a rock, you touch time.
Rocks move. They melt and set, erode to dust
and then the dust settles
forms new rock over time almost unimaginable.
This undulating plain formed at great depths
was thrust up to mountainous heights
now lies placid for your walking comfort.
Go find a rock
and travel in time and space.
Copyright © 2018 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Lifting over the horizon comes Orion
stellar giant writ large in the sky
seven winter stars, guiding me on dark nights
heavenly shepard
Rigel, bluebright, ten millions year young
living fast and furious
there at the giants front knee
pushing forward
Great Betelguese smolders
into dying at Orions shoulder
or maybe she’s blown away already
a light six centuries away
Hanging from a three star belt
stars are birthed swaddled in glowing nebulosity
look closely and you see their pinprick natal shine
count them and argue about it
Copyright © 2020 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Darkness born from darkness
the beginning of all understanding
Tao te Ching, John H. McDonald, trans.
On an night when all possibilities seem open
when hills and towns and roads
dance and roll in my headlights
I muse on the dance of Higgs Bosons
across seeming emptinesses
matter forming and reforming
in deep space and time
in the most primeval dark
Copyright © 2020 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Some very interesting thoughts here from the Night Poet:
– Carl Sagan ~
Digitally enhanced image created from an original photo taken in February 2020.
© 2020 nightpoet all rights reserved
Numbers tumbling quasi-random
Stream past
Rippling through reality
Irrational to the end
Copyright © 2020 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Wetware software hardware
how hard do we have to be?
Programmed by the stochastic chatter of evolution
form fitting function,
almost.
Self replicating semi-autonomous robots.
purposed by deoxyribonucleic acid,
the software exists to
protect itself
not us.
Copyright © 2019 Kim Whysall-Hammond
I have another published poem! Thank you to Tristran Moss for including my poem ‘Green’ in the Environs issue of Snakeskin:
Born not in darkness but in a glory of light
glowing plasma heralding
time to come.
Wrapped in dust, avidly gravitating
acquiring debris, gathering and heating
shaping, moulding
to planetary status.
Time builds further complexities
molecular forms, moving, reproducing
that bloom in awareness
become intelligences
who eventually come to know
that stars are
born not in darkness but in a glory of light.
Copyright © 2019 Kim Whysall-Hammond
