Tag Archives: space

Dockside

April 20, 2019poem, Poetry, Science Fiction Poetry, SF, speculative poetryEastercon, poem, poetry, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Poetry, space, space station, speculative poetry, teenagersThe Cheesesellers Wife

Neon shattered voices ring across dockside
joshing, laughing.
A gaggle of youth, glories of hair and beard,
jaunt along a just washed walkway,
looking for nothing,
arms linked, heads thrown back
deep laughs mixed with shrill cries.
Pocked skin drawn
tight over smashed cheekbone,
hair frizzy and sculpted
or flopping over acid kissed eye.
Wide grins stretch mouths
faces marred by occupational hazard
adorned with tattoo.
Brightly painted prostheses refract
glitter, crack together
as shoulders nudge hard
in proto-embrace or witty retort.
Tonight, youth’s incandescent joy uplifts,
they will launch into the dark
escape this gravity well tomorrow.
Other crews drift along
washed by unfathomed
tides of rumour and gossip
pushed-pulled to entertainments
you cannot, would not, share.
Our girls and boys josh on
exchanging joyous insults,
impervious to all.
An enclave of companionship
in a lonely night.

First pubished in Wizards in Space 3, a print journal, https://wizardsinspacemag.com/

I’m at Eastercon (the UK national Science Fiction convention) this weekend, with paintings in the Art Show……..

Painting: Hey Mr Spaceman

March 4, 2019art, Painting, Science, watercolourart, astronaut, Fandom, Painting, Science Fiction, space, watercolourThe Cheesesellers Wife

An Apollo astronut floating high….

….plus a bonus poem, this time about someone in a red suit:

Resplendent in red

She came to see me
Resplendent in red
Glittering with dust
Her elegant bone structure evident more than ever
Desiccated and dead
Spacesuit blown
Floating past the view screen
When I know we retrieved her from orbit yesterday

First published in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Associations print journal Star*Line 40.4

She came to see me

December 12, 2018poem, Poetry, Science Fiction Poetry, SF, speculative poetryDead astronaut, poem, poerty, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Poetry, SF, space, speculative poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

First published in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Associations print journal Star*Line 40.4

She came to see me

September 1, 2018Life, poem, Poetry, Science Fiction Poetry, speculative poetryDead astronaut, Ghosts, Life, poem, poetry, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Poetry, space, spaceflight, speculative poetry, Star*Line, TechnologyThe Cheesesellers Wife

Originally published in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Associations print journal Star*Line 40.4 October 2017 http://www.sfpoetry.com/sl/issues/starline40.4.html

“Deep” has been published in Star*Line

July 27, 2018poem, Poetry, Science Fiction Poetry, SF, speculative poetryScience Fiction, Science Fiction Poetry, SF, SF poetry, space, speculative poetry, Star*LineThe Cheesesellers Wife

I’m delighted to tell you that my poem, “Deep”, has been published in Star*Line, the house journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association:

http://sfpoetry.com/sl/issues/starline41.3.html

Rocks

March 3, 2018beauty, England, philosophy, poem, Poetry, Science, science poetrybeauty, geology, Life, poem, poetry, rocks, science, science poetry, space, time, travelThe Cheesesellers Wife

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.

Brief bloom

February 28, 2018astronomy, beauty, cosmology, Life, nature, philosophy, poem, Poetry, Science, Science Fiction Poetry, science poetry, speculative poetryastronomy, Earth, environment, hope, humanity, Life, NASA, nature, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Poetry, science poem, science poetry, solar system, space, speculative poetry, sun, Technology, travel, volcanoThe Cheesesellers Wife

We are a brief bloom
On the fragile skin
Of a molten body
Encircling a massive furnace

We are a blossoming of sentience
With encrusted technologies
Craving wonder, hoping for company
Seeking knowledge and excitement

We truly are stardust
Our bodies built from atoms
Forged in successive stellar explosions
We crave the glories of the Universe

We are Human

Re-blogged from last year

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160510.html

Visitor

October 29, 2017astronomy, cosmology, poem, Poetry, ScienceA/2017 U1, astronomy, cosmology, interstellar, science, science poem, spaceThe Cheesesellers Wife

Visitor from afar,
tracked by orbital telescopes
calculated trajectory indicating
an extra solar origin.
She is dropping past and zooming out.

Rock studded ice lump
possibly formed without a mother sun
in the darknesses between stars.
Interplanetary orphan,
we have only just spotted you.
Where are the others?

In honour of object A/2017 U1 , now visiting our solar system from who knows where.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/2017_U1

What

August 11, 2017poem, Poetry, Science Fiction Poetry, speculative poetryastronaut, astronomy, poem, poetry, Science Fiction Poetry, space, speculative poetryThe Cheesesellers Wife

What will the journey be like
To toil through interstellar dust
Leptons muons
Amino acids

What will the damage be
Will we be human at the end
We are desperate to try

What will we find
What will be waiting
Where we fantasise monsters aliens
Will we be devoured altered

By the very emptiness

Some Science Fiction to celebrate that fact that I’m attending the Science Fiction Worldcon this weekend! 🙂

Desert sky

May 27, 2017astronomy, beauty, cosmology, Life, nature, poem, Poetry, Science, science poetryastronomy, Blogging, cosmology, Desert, Life, Milky Way, night, poem, poetry, science, science poetry, sky, space, Wadi RumThe Cheesesellers Wife

Driving in a roast red desert
Headlights staring into primeval dark
The untrammeled sky glorious

Above us a bridge of stars
Rivering between rocky horizons
At once near and so very far

Cricking my neck to see
I bounced around the back of the open jeep
Absorbing, amid the shudders, splendor

Star birth and death, worlds hidden by distance
Great glowing nebulae
Fat in the centre, a devouring black hole