Hi to all meteor lovers.
Here is the 2004 winter solstice issue of
METEOR CONTEMPORARY POETRY PROJECT
with the correct links of the previous issues.
Enjoy !

Coordinators

``````````````````````````````````````````````
METEOR CONTEMPORARY POETRY PROJECT (4)
and other related or special astropoems

~ Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (sarm@...), Alastair
McBeath (meteor@...), Valentin Grigore
(vali_sarm@...) ~

Previous issues:
-Leopoetry, a prologue at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1088
-Meteor Contemporary Poetry at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1177
-Meteor Contemporary Poetry (2) at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1321
-Meteor Contemporary Poetry (3) at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1392

In this issue:
I. METEOR POETRY
-1. A UNIQUE EVENING OF PERSEID POETRY (Dan Mitrut,
Alina Istrate, Belgian observers, Valentin Grigore,
Zigmund Tauberg, Ion Moraru, Dominic Diamant, Benny
Geys, Catalin Bunofschi, Victor Chifelea, Koen
Clement, Maria Nutu-Sima, Jos Nijland, Gabriel
Ivanescu, Jean-Marc Wislez, Daniel Fisher, Adrian
Sima, Gelu-Claudiu Radu, Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
-2. TO THE “PERSEIDS 2004-DARMANESTI & CORBASCA”
INTERNATIONAL CAMP (Dan Mitrut)
-3. METEOR HAIKUS (Danut Ionescu, Iulian Olaru,
Michaela Al. Orescu, Erina Yanagida, Zigmund Tauberg,
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe, Cristian Miala, Iulian Andrei,
Adrian Sima, Dominic Diamant)
-4. METEOR POEMS (Tina Visarian, Dan Mitrut, Sorin
Hotea, Diana Maria Ogescu, Gerald England, Arnold
Leinweber, Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator, Mircea
Babescu, Malcolm Currie, Razvan Ciomartan, David
Asher, Ionel Catalin Diaconu, Steve Sneyd, Alexandru
Conu, Adrian Sima, Calin Niculae, Arlene Carol Brill,
Dominic Diamant, Valentin Grigore, Andrei Dorian
Gheorghe, Zigmund Tauberg, Tania Tilici)
-5. THE LEONIDS (Alastair McBeath)
-6. 2004’S LAST WEEKS (Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
II. OTHER RELATED OR SPECIAL ASTROPOEMS (Diana
Alexandra Ardelean, Zigmund Tauberg, Andrei Dorian
Gheorghe, Virgil V. Scurtu, Dominic Diamant, Emil
Neata, Dan Mitrut, Doug Tanoury, Adrian Sima, Arnold
Leinweber)

The next issue, for which we wait for submissions,
will appear at the summer solstice 2005. -
Coordinators

~METEOR POETRY~

<1. A UNIQUE EVENING OF PERSEID POETRY>
(poems read on 2004, August 12th, during the
Romanian-Dutch-Belgian-German camp “Perseids 2004”
(12th edition), organized by the Romanian Society for
Meteors and Astronomy-SARM in Darmanesti and Corbasca,
Bacau County, Moldavia, Romania; all the poems below
were exhibited at IMC 2004-Varna, Bulgaria)~

BITS OF PERSEUS
~by Dan Mitrut (Romania)~

Glow worms falling
upon leaves of life.
Every August
they revive, dying
in each heart
given to the sky.

PERSEIDS
~by Alina Istrate (Romania)~

We can dream,
we shall travel in the Universe
going where today we can go
only with our gaze.

Until those times,
the Perseids remain
our place of meeting.

DARMANESTI 2004
~by the Belgian delegation~

Some Belgians travelling to this place
Learned only one Romanian phrase.
They could use it right away,
On the very first day:

“Este plin de olandezi!”
(“It is full of Dutch people!”)

~read also at IMC 2004~

DARMANESTI 2004
~by Valentin Grigore (Romania)~

Meteors knitting clouds in the sky
and hopes in the watchers’ souls.
People from four countries
looking together at the land above:

“Perseids are coming!”

~read also at IMC 2004~

PERSEIDS
~by Zigmund Tauberg (Romania)~

The night sky is alight. Thus,
meteors appear as a real rain.
Is master Perseus so angry
that throws burning stones at us?

METEORS (2)
~by Ion Moraru (Romania)~

In summer time
I was on a mountain
to observe meteors.

In that waiting,
my mind returned to my town
among smoke, noise and bosses.

Suddenly
some Perseid joy came,
given from somewhere,
from above.

Go to the mountain
of your life, please!

It needs you!

HAIKU
~by Dominic Diamant (Romania)~

sidereal knight
his helmet with diamonds
perseids

LIMERICK
~by Benny Geys (Belgium)~

There was a small rock from space
Who flew at a terrible pace
It hurled through the sky
And I’m still wondering why
It chose to land right in my face.

A SIMPLE FINDING BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF AUGUST
~by Catalin Bunofschi (Romania)~

Perseus pours out light
into the people’s souls.

PERSEIDS
~by Victor Chifelea (Romania)~

Attention, please,
danger of contamination,
microbes of the Universe appear
periodically inflaming
the velvet veil of the night.

MY LITTLE STAR
~by Koen Clement (Belgium)~

From so far
you are
my little star

But when thou come near me
you appear to me
like a Perseid
shining bright behind a tree
or somewhere I cannot see
that’s when I look at thee
too frequent and too speedy
never where I expect you to be

Why is it that from so far
you are like a star?

Never changing
ever twinkling
from too much “palinka” drinking

In theory I observe good
but with Moldavian flood
I’m stuck in practicalities
hiking on floating trees

With my hungry eyes
but obscure sights
and greedy hands
in these muddy lands
I read for you firm and thorough
only to be found a mosquito

Maybe to understand you well
I should look peripheral
so that there is no need to speak and spell
and for me to tell

That from so far
you are
my little star

PERSEIDS
~by Maria Nutu-Sima (Romania)~

fragments of smile

broken magnitude
in the iron light

burnt sound

or sometimes dust
without destiny

A PERSEID IN ROMANIA
~by Jos Nijland (Holland)~

When a meteor, a meteor, a meteor is there,
You will never know when or what or even why it
appears.

When a Perseid, a Perseid, a Perseid is there,
You hope it is not in vain, and the sky is perfectly
clear.

When a meteor, a meteor, a meteor is there,
I wish everybody luck today, tomorrow, the whole year.


When a Perseid, a Perseid, a Perseid is there,
I have to think of Romania, of all the fine people
there.

~read also at IMC 2004~

PERSEIDS
~by Gabriel Ivanescu (Romania)~

summer nights
with ephemeral brilliance
meteors which disappear
showing us that life is short

after them only the remembrance
of a unique spectacle

the people too
we have a high fire
which guides us

PERSEID POETIC DUMBSHOW
(to Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
~by Jean-Marc Wislez (Belgium)~

(Note: Played by the Belgian Group, this dumbshow was
a short evocation of the mainly cloudy Perseid
observation night of August 11/12, 2004 in Darmanesti-
the first location for double station observations
initiated by the Dutch group.)

A girl played Cassiopeia and Perseus, her arms folded
in W-shape.
All other participants (but two) were Perseids. They
came to her one by one, and she pushed them across the
scene, firing the meteors through the sky.
The meteors were having a real party: shouting,
jumping, laughing, leaving trails of toilet paper,
making joyful sounds…
Only one detail: all this happened behind a large
waving screen held by the other two participants,
symbolizing the clouds.
The spectators only saw very small bits of the Perseid
fun, and could only guess what was happening.
The observers were finally teased with the mention
that the Perseids had a lot of fun, and that we hope
they had fun too…

~read also at IMC 2004~

DOGS OF CORBASCA,
AUGUST 12TH, 2004
~by Daniel Fisher (Germany)~

(Note: Corbasca was the second location for Perseid
double station observations)

When the Eight from SARM, DMS & AKM
came upon Corbasca’s marvellous skies,
the dogs were singing, for hours,
in all directions, a polyphonic symphony.

Were they laughing at the failed predictions
of a Perseid mini-storm that midnight?

Were they celebrating a maximum night
as good as any in recent years?

Or was it just another ordinary night
in Corbasca, the village at the edge of nowhere?

~read also at IMC 2004~

A DIALOGUE WITH A PERSEID FIREBALL
~by Adrian Sima (Romania)~

I ask him: “Arrow?”
He replies me: “…of light.”
I wonder: “Sacrifice?”
He says: “… for the light.”
I cry: “How long?”
He breathes
dripping insistently, insistently:
“Shadow, only shadow
is in the gravity of each thing.”

~performed also at IMC 2004~

METEORS IN THE DANUBE DELTA
~by Gelu-Claudiu Radu (Romania)~

Night intense heat.
Mosquitoes lie on water lilies.
Perseids!

PERSEIDS
~by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)~

not about perseus
but about his radiant

not about the hero’s bravery
but about his zenithal hourly rate

not about his remembrance
but about his fireballs

not about the speed of light
but about the periodic speed
of the summer maximum
of our sky feelings

~read also at IMC 2004~

<2. TO THE “PERSEIDS 2004-DARMANESTI & CORBASCA”
INTERNATIONAL CAMP, ROMANIA>
~a special cycle by Dan Mitrut (Romania)~

(TO THE NIGHT OF AUGUST 12/13,
WHEN VALENTIN GRIGORE AND HIS CHILDREN
REMAINED TILL THE MORNING UNDER THE PERSEID LIGHT)

your children will get up
as the radiant grows to the zenith
you will take them under the sky
and will ask if these drops of light mean
love breezing gently in august

and they will reply to you, smiling:

“father, this is the whole fortune:
some shadows counting stars”

~performed at IMC 2004~

(TOGETHER THE COSMOS)

perseids and people
dreams weaving in the high atmosphere
from august to august
like a heart beat

(AQUARID)

the blue wing of a fireball
forgetting its flight
between pegasus and aquila

from grass
pencils write the eternity
of a –6 moment

(FEELING)

how could beauty be complete
otherwise
than in a meteor’s silence
piercing the night heart?

(PERSEIDS 2004)

for a cub of star
even the clear waters of the eyes
keep silent

for a cub of star
leaves sing magnitudes
condemned to the darkness

for a cub of star
we sacrifice the august sleep
shed tears
and continue

<3. METEOR HAIKUS>

AVANTGARDE
~by Danut Ionescu (Romania / New Zealand)~

yahoo yahoo yahoo
let’s do at least let’s do
a meteor haiku

HAIKU
~by Iulian Olaru (Romania)~

falling star
in man’s soul-
eternity?

HAIKU
~by Michaela Al. Orescu (Romania)~

obscure in the void
necklaces from comets
incandescent in the air

HAIKU
~by Erina Yanagida (Japan)~

I want to watch
lovely meteors
with my love

~read at IMC 2004~

HAIKU
~by Zigmund Tauberg (Romania)~

in the atmosphere
meteors passing
trails of light dancing

QUADRANTIDS
~by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)~

winter sky disciples
measuring high altitudes
and fire angles

METEORS
~by Cristian Miala (Romania)~

tracks of light
shadows of wishes
the Earth’s blue abyss

HAIKU
~by Iulian Andrei (Romania)~

Look, a meteor!
It photographed me…
Wow, it blitzed me!

LEONIDS
~by Adrian Sima (Romania)~

nobody can lure
the Leonid gods
for they always rise too high…

HAIKU
~by Dominic Diamant (Romania)~

urchins with balls
in the crossroad of the night
oh meteors

<4. METEOR POEMS>

A DREAM FOR THE WINTER SKY
~by Tina Visarian (Romania)~

Hard and cold solitude…
pressing me in the night
which rustles stars…

I insatiably absorb their shine.

The Phoenix bird appears
urging me
to take power
from the meteors’ flight
and silence
from the mild embrace of the sky.

LYRID HAIKUS
~by Dan Mitrut (Romania)~

*
A sunset of embers.
The shadow measures on tiptoe
the dream light.

*
A shout of crane.
Under the Milky Way
a lost star.

*
Startings.
My eyes are stolen by the sky.
Dandelions rise.

2003 MAY 6TH
~by Sorin Hotea (Romania)~

This morning I wanted to see
Eta Aquarids.

I was out of home for a little time
and I saw two meteors:
-the first of them of 0 magnitude,
in Pegasus - Cepheus,
with a bright trace of 15 degrees,
and lasting 2 seconds;
-the second of them of 2 magnitude,
faster in Cygnus,
with a trace of about 10 degrees,
and lasting 1 second.

That was all I saw,
and am satisfied:
I can say I saw
Eta Aquarids.

SUMMER METEOR SHOWERS
~by Diana Maria Ogescu (Romania)~

Light butterflies
pollinate the world
by seeds banished
from the Universe’s oases.

SCOTTISH SUMMER HOLIDAY WITHOUT METEORS
~by Gerald England (U.K.)~

*
longest day
only a sliver of moon
and a wispy cloud

*
northern summer
the sky not dark enough
to see Jupiter

SOLAR ACTIVITY
~by Arnold Leinweber (Romania)~

Even hidden during the starry night,
he lightened
the Moon and planets.

Now the merry Sun
is coming with the morning,
washing his face with dew,
changing the clothes
of our hemisphere,
and overcoming the meteors
with thousands of rays…

METEOR IMAGES FROM MY POEMS
COMPOSED IN COMMUNIST POLITICAL PRISONS (1)
1952, AIUD. METEOR IMAGE
~by Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator (91 years old,
Romania)~

From high horizons, like magic, a brand sputtering,
And waters and reeds beginning to sing…

MEASURES IN THE “PERSEIDS 2002” CAMP,
CORBASCA, ROMANIA
~by Mircea Babescu (Romania)~

To meet real people,
I had to learn about
counting falling stars.

To see love for people,
I had to learn about
reading the sky’s clearness
in constellations.

To understand great souls,
I had to learn about
weighing the stars’ magnitude.

LIMERICK
(to Rainer Arlt)
~by Malcolm Currie (U.K.)~

A German astronomer named Rainer
Observed meteors from his recliner
During an intense Perseid shower
He counted many times per hour
Now his ZHR curve is much finer.

ABOUT THE METEORS
~by Razvan Ciomartan (Romania)~

We look at the sky…
We see meteors…
And… admiring their splendour,
We see how each one
Wishes to be the most spectacular…

Meteors…
Small stars
Killed by their own love
For the earthly women…

AT THE INTERNATIONAL METEOR CONFERENCE
IN BOLLMANNSRUH, GERMANY, 2003 SEPTEMBER
~by David Asher (U.K.)~

I really would be with the break
To drink coffee and eat lots of cake
Because the only thing worse
In composing bad verse is
To attempt to not stay awake.

~read at IMC 2003~

MY GRANDMOTHER
~by Ionel Catalin Diaconu (Romania)~

My grandmother said to me:
“Look up there, my grandson,
another star is fallen,
another soul is gone.”

I thought that
my grandmother makes a joke,
death and fear
were the same for me.

But today, the stars
exist somewhere between
my soul and my mind,
and the truth is that
my grandmother didn’t lie to me.

Meteors for Earth-
they are souls of the clear nights
and whispers of the dying lights.

OFF THE COAST OF THREE CROWNS
~by Steve Sneyd (U.K.)~

three gas rigs’ lights grin
into such black no knowing
where sea rubs sky-look,
now, there, three meteors dive,
one per rig, seeking their mates

LOOKING FOR AURORAE AND SPORADIC METEORS
IN 2003 OCTOBER
~by Alexandru Conu (Romania)~

Good sky in North,
6.5 magnitude at zenith,
6 magnitude by Polaris.

Good and nice…
I see Helix, M 33, M 76, cloud…
I see Snowball, M 31 (through my binocular…
it seems to be more beautiful than anytime,
I don’t know why), cloud…
I see Blinking, cloud, cloud…
and the mud collected by my shoes.

Better luck next time!

NEED OF MOTION
~by Adrian Sima (Romania)~

Hidden on Earth
I’m waiting for that pilgrimage
of the meteors
dipped in the atmospheric juice
and I hope to catch the express
from the ribs of the light

I’m waiting for that galactic morning
when I’ll not feel my body
written by a mincing machine

I’d walk arm in arm with the light
through a square paved by rainbows,
but I’m waiting for someone to invent
my wings

SPOKEN VERSE.
BEFORE THE TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE OF 2004 OCTOBER 27TH …
~by Calin Niculae (Romania)~

… a –2 meteor came from the north
and passed between Saturn (in Gemini) and Regulus
like an unexpected charity.

2004. AUTUMN QUICKY HAIKU
~by Arlene Carol Brill (Turkey)~

*
sadly a full moon
blocks the fleeting meteor
surprise! a lunar eclipse!!

*
no rain since last May…
what is falling from the sky?
go back to my bed!

*
rain rain go away
move those bloody clouds away
…damn November grey.

THE MASTER OF THE LEONIDS
~by Dominic Diamant (Romania)~

The Lion bending upon the prey…
What a fantastic grace!
What a fulminating jump!
The Lion catching some star in his claws…

All the Universe was burning and roaring,
thrilling, just to see the Lion
frantically relishing his victim.

Galaxies dancing and shining!
I was watching them, asking myself
if it is fair to curse him.

LEONIDS 2002
~by Valentin Grigore (Romania)~

The Full Moon-
witness at this outburst of sparkles
come from the supreme light-
tries through her brightness
to attenuate the crowd
of the Leonid midgets.
But it is not easy!

COMMUNITY
~by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)~

Don’t talk to me, deep sky objects.
Parliamentarians have explained that
their lies are more beautiful.

Don’t talk to me, comets and planets.
Ministries have explained that
the high prices are more interesting.

Don’t talk to me, stars.
Patrons have explained that
watching the sky is not productive.

But let me just admire all of you,
heavenly bodies,
as my protest
pushed by the inertia
of a meteor light.

LOOKING FOR URSIDS
~by Zigmund Tauberg (Romania)

In the canopy of heaven,
Two very nice starry chariots appear.
If they are good enough for walks,
I would trustfully test them for the whole year.

FORGETTING THE METEORS
~by Tania Tilici (Romania)~

If we would be immortal
In the Universe’s eternity…
We would be incidentally born,
Consuming our life
Through boundless pulsations,
And forgetting the meteors…

<5. THE LEONIDS>
~a special cycle composed in December 2004 by Alastair
McBeath (U.K.)~

(THE LEONIDS 1998-2002: A RETROSPECTIVE)

Were the expectations too high?
Was there disappointment in the messages afterward?
Did the storms not fill the skies as you’d hoped?
Were you too occupied by the clouds to enjoy the
meteors?
Did you complain, even to yourself?

Not me!
For me, the Leonids were a delight in dreadful times.
And a remembrance of my father, now he is gone.
His excitement and enthusiasm
Mirrored mine,
From the great fireball night,
To the crisp Leonid storm dawns of later years.
And he was there.
And always will be so.

This year’s meteor starburst: Two sporadics at
Leonid-time.
But two years ago to the very night, it was three
Leonids at the storm’s height.
And another; and another; and another, and another,
and another; and ANOTHER,
Till the minute was done.
That on a night of fogs, and clouds, and a wonderful,
sudden clearance.
A night that earlier had the gothic light of Poe’s
cloud-shrouded Moon,
That in Maryland was the light of Gaugin.

Three more years back, and the night before.
The clouds, the gaps, the meteors:
The First Storm.

How could there be so much cloud,
Yet still show so many meteors?
Imagining what the clouds hid.
But what was missed, with four Leonids dripping
together
From a sliver of starry-cake sky, wrapped in a cloud
icing?
Six, six, six, eight;
How many Leonids in four minutes to make the pulses’
race?
Did we notice the clouds? Or the cold?
No – just the meteors, and each other’s joy.

So back to 1998; another cloudy night.
But never think November’s clouds won’t part.
Ask if the Alpha Monocerotids saw Morpeth for the
truth of that.

The door opens. Cool air. Clouds.
Step out – a Leonid! A Leonid in clouds!
What the chance? What the brightness to be seen?
And another! I’m still on the step!
Has the storm come a year early, and a night too soon?

Awake now; very awake. Rouse others. Observe.
The clouds are gone, chased by the meteors and the
heat of our elation.
Gaze in amazement at a Moon-bright flash,
With a minutes-long train – a line, a curve, a ring.
Meteors making their own clouds of glowing radiance.
The sky lights up with an unseen flare.
No time to worry about that; there are plenty more.
So many fireballs, and trains, and awe, and wonder.
Even into the dawn, another fireball roars, as the
Lion fades.
And is gone.

O tempora, O mores!
A time for Leonids, and the custom of watching them.


(GREEN-YELLOW-RED: THE 2004 LEONIDS)

Green-yellow-red.
The track of my first Leonid this year,
Slipping across Leo as I stepped out the door.

Green-yellow-red.
Another Leonid, minutes later, low to the north.
I need to be out observing, not just sky-gazing.

Green-yellow-red.
I’ve seen the colours on many Leonid photos.
But why this year do I see them so clearly in the real
meteor tracks?

Green-yellow-red.

<6. 2004’S LAST WEEKS>
~a special cycle by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)~

(2004 NOVEMBER 5TH.
SOUTHERN TAURID MAXIMUM
AND VENUS-JUPITER CONJUNCTION)

unhappy taurid
two dreamt horns
Venus and Jupiter

(2004 SKY THEATRE)

Leonid meteors
playing a tragedy
just their own decline

(GEMINIDS 2004
~to Arnold Tukkers, Casper ter Kuile and Jos Nijland~)


In spite of the cold…
In spite of the distance…

Castor and Pollux- indestructible brothers
in a constellation

Meteor observers- real friends
on Earth

Geminid meteors- kind intermediaries
in the atmosphere

~II. OTHER RELATED OR SPECIAL ASTROPOEMS~

UNIVERSE
~by Diana Alexandra Ardelean (10 years old, Romania)

I’m still too young, but I’m a dreamer,
and later I’d like to fly to the Sun,
to be accompanied by thousands of meteors,
and to see planets, and comets with long locks…

Now I am content with the solar story
in my room, or at the observatory.

DIFERENCE BETWEEN AN AMATEUR OF METEOROLOGY
AND AN AMATEUR OF ASTRONOMY
~by Zigmund Tauberg (Romania)~

The first of them lives with his head
Among the clouds,
And the second of them lives with his head
Among the stars.

THE WONDERFUL SPRING SKY OF 2004
~by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)~

(EQUINOX)

Before your decline,
Dear Sirius,
you are for me
the central character
of this spring equinox:

with Procyon and some star of Orion
you make
the traditional Winter Triangle,

and with Jupiter and Venus
you make a greater one,
the festive Brightness Triangle!

(7 OLD “PLANETS”)

What in incredible spring!

I can see Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Saturn, Jupiter,
and the Moon visiting them!

I feel like a medieval chronicler,
admiring these 6 “planets” of the night,
and the greatest “planet”, the Sun,
all day long.

(I didn’t want to neglect you,
Neptune, Saturn and Pluto,
for I know
you will be discovered soon
by superior calculations and instruments.
My apologies!)

(VENUS AMONG THE PLEIADES)

A high standard meeting,
Venus and the Pleiades
exchanging celestial techniques
of beauty and brightness
as from a champion planet
to a champion starry cluster.

(LUNAR ECLIPSE)

You see, dear fellows,
the darkness has its own
stairs, and shadows, and nuances,
so a lunar eclipse could be
more darkened than another one.

The thin clouds are only
décor elements.

(MOON / VENUS - OCCULTATION)

We know who the symbol of beauty is,
but sometimes we must remark
there is a being,
only one being,
a heavenly being
(Moon is her name),
who can provoke
(can I say so?)…

an eclipse of Venus!

(TRANSIT OF VENUS ACROSS THE SUN)

Dear Venus,
you were the hero of this spring:
you met the Pleiades
and spoke with the Moon.
But I hope now you don’t want
to eclipse the Sun.
You would not have any chance!

“On the contrary,” replies Venus,
“this time the Sun and I try
to unify our beauties
only for you,
dear earthlings!”

(VENUS TRANSIT-II)

It’s very hard to see
a fireball in the day light,
but I can say I saw
a black ball in the Sun!

(VENUS TRANSIT-III)

What kind of love was it?
The Sun and Venus…
I think I know:
a meteoric love!

(OTHER CONCLUSIONS)

I didn’t see too many meteors
in the last three months.

Perhaps it was a form of politeness
for those comets
(Linear, Neat and Bradfield),

for those spectacular ladies
of the wonderful spring sky of 2004.

POLARIS
~by Virgil V. Scurtu (Romania)~

Polaris’ phenomena are relatively discreet,
even if the North Star could be easily seen with the
naked eye.
Polaris sings its own melody
in an undertone.

A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE
~by Dominic Diamant (Romania)~

Looking for a friend of mine,
I found him just in the Austral Fish.

A wandering, absent-minded
and totalitarian comet,
jumping from its orbit,
tried to kill him
because he didn’t respect it enough,
so he ran, hiding himself
around Fomalhaut.

I asked him to come back
into our system
and to make things better,
even if it is still a lot of dark,

but he said he likes
his new ark.

MESSIER 2003.
PROBLEMS FOR AN ASTRO-DRAWER
~by Emil Neata (Romania)~

(03.04.03)

At 120 x,
M 42 presents details beyond
my powers of drawing!

(06.09.03)

M 24 should not be drawn.
M 24 is a little bit
of the Milky Way!

(08.27.03)

I have drawn a few M objects,
but I’m too scared of
globular clusters!

EXORCISM FOR A SHORT-SIGHTED COMET
~by Dan Mitrut (Romania)~

Trace after herd,
after cluster,
cometary hives are
desert and icy.
Nature from look
without bridegroom.
Boulder, light in sieve,
disheveled rusty tail.
A blind being has hidden
your sight.
Crushed worlds.

But you!
Come on the path
where the Sun is master
and the Great Sky could be seen:
stars, pixies, fire of stones, clear water of day…

You are a mother (of meteors)
and a kerchief (of heaven) too.

Remain tailed,
lightened and clean,
like the white bread from wheat.

If the sky would not lower
into our thoughts,
we would be lost.

ASH LEAVES
~by Doug Tanoury (U.S.A.)~

Overnight,
The ash leaves have changed
To ochre.
Occasionally, one will drop to the lawn
I’ll watch
Its feathered fall that is more a floating,
A delicate
Drifting in zigzags to the ground,
Spinning and twisting
In sailing motions like a fishing spoon
Swimming
In clear Spring waters.

This is
The season of change and letting go,
Of quiet
Release and things shed in gentle winds.
There is
Alchemy in Autumn mornings
That turn
Base things golden and paints in
Brilliant and
Burning pigments upon each branch
The stored up prismed
And spectrumed light of August Sunsets.

JUSTICE
~by Adrian Sima (Romania)~

they caught the fugitive
in the 7th dimension

he just took rest
at the shadow of an old nebula

they tied him by cometary chains
and meteoric hand-cuffs
and carried him to their tribunal

here they judged him roughly
and finally
put time at his feet
because he dared
to shock space
with his dreams…

COSMOS
~by Arnold Leinweber (Romania)~

-In the astral canopy of the night,
Thousands of stars watch Terra’s surface
Through their brightness.
-The Great Chariot with the Little Chariot,
On starry roads,
Make a race without any target.
-An enthusiastic comet
Tries to hinder them with its tail,
And to overtake them.
-But there is a referee, courageous Mars,
Who uses a solar wind
To whistle the fault.
-Fire roads among the stars
Are made by meteors with trails
Which seem to cover a lot of light years.
-Far away, the Swan wishes a marathon,
And provokes the Eagle.
-Sometimes, a wandering star runs
As for a cross-country race.
-Indignant black holes see all:
“Could these stars make something useful?”

But gracious Venus asks the Cosmos
If it can do a federation for all of them,
And proposes as the president, soon,
Even the mild Moon!

***
The copyright of the poems belongs to the authors and
IMO.
All the English translations from the Romanian were
made by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
http://www.adg2005.go.ro/index.html






=====
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Valentin Grigore
President of SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)
CP 14, OP 1, Targoviste, RO-130170, Dambovita, ROMANIA
phone: +40 245 214389, +40 0722829034 (gsm)
e-mail: sarm@..., vali_sarm@...
*******************************************************



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