METEOR CONTEMPORARY POETRY PROJECT (10)

Note: Due to time constraints, this will be the last issue in the
current format of the Project's astropoetry compilations. We would
like to thank all those people who have contributed material over the
last five years, and to those who have provided support in other ways.

This issue is dedicated to Costica Gheorghe (1927-2007, participant at
the International Meteor Conference 2000 in Pucioasa, Romania), whose
anonymous efforts helped very much the Meteor Contemporary Poetry
Project and the Astropoetry Shows of the International Meteor Conference.

-Coordinators:
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania),
Alastair McBeath (U.K.)
and Valentin Grigore (Romania)-

Previous issues:

-Leonid 2002 Poetry - prologue, December 2002
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1088

-MCPP (1), June 2003
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1177

-MCPP (2), December 2003
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1321

-MCPP (3), June 2004
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1392

-The Song of the IMC - a September 2004 supplement
by Jeremie Vaubaillon
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1455

-MCPP (4), December 2004
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1507

-MCPP (5), June 2005
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1573

-MCPP (6), December 2005
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1649

-MCPP (7), June 2006
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1701

-MCPP (8), December 2006
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1785

-MCPP (9), June 2007
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/imo-news/message/1848


In this issue:
I. FROM A LIFE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL METEOR ORGANIZATION
II. POETRY AT THE ASTROSHOW OF THE INTERNATIONAL METEOR CONFERENCE 2007
III. METEOR POEMS
IV. RECOVERIES FROM THE PAST
V. SARM'S PERSEIDS 2007 ASTROPOETRY WORKSHOP
VI. TRIBUTE

I. FROM A LIFE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL METEOR ORGANIZATION

TOP 3 METEOR SHOWERS
-by Paul Roggemans (Belgium)-

PERSEIDS

Perseid trains appear,
observers see them so clear,
as best of the year.

With such a twin peak,
Perseids are never too weak,
so observers speak.

Perseids seen as tears,
on Lawrence-day many years,
this myth disappears.

LEONIDS

Be well aware,
About Leonids we care,
outbursts so rare.

People got scared,
Leonid storm unprepared,
when all stars flared.

Ancient messengers,
Leonid storms were challengers,
Kings' disparagers.

The Leonid showers,
compare to fields of flowers,
of cosmic powers.

GEMINIDS

Geminids' fidelity,
many and of quality,
a winter rituality.

In cold deep dark sky,
shooting stars happen to fly,
Geminids never die.

METEORIC JOKE

Geminids slower,
Perseids move with more power,
Both: good shower.


II. POETRY AT THE ASTROSHOW OF THE INTERNATIONAL METEOR CONFERENCE -
BAREGES (FRANCE), JUNE 2007

LIMERICK
-by David Asher (U.K.)-

One glorious I-M-O day
Was the time when a man called Andrei
Created a show
That's continued to grow.
Now you can't keep the audience away!

METEORIC ADAPTATION ON THE "FRERE JACQUES" MUSIC
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)-

Dear observer! Dear observer!
Do not sleep! Do not sleep!
Open heaven's doors! Open heaven's doors:
Meteors! Meteors!

ATMOSPHERE
-by Masa-yuki Yamamoto (Japan)-

make your love
atmosphere for shine
we love the atmosphere of the Earth
we love the atmosphere of the IMC

METEOR WATCHING
-A tribute poem
by Geoffrey Grayer (U.K.), IMC-2007-

What is this life, if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?
-Is that why all these people here
Look up into the sky, so clear?
Yes; they await, with patience all
For that spark from heaven to fall
For surely a meteor is what he meant
When Arnold penned that sad lament.
Yes, we must await the hand of fate -
It seems the shower's somewhat late;
Or maybe, you never know, this year
'Twill not appear at all, I fear.

Sometimes a perturbation comes along
And all our calculations... Wrong!
Yet we continue, try again,
Next year we know won't be the same.
You never know, it can occur -
A fire storm! Meteors everywhere!
They fill the sky, the numbers mount,
So many one has no chance to count.
I've never seen one yet, 'tis true
But if I miss it, that day I'll rue.
So we keep on looking, hoping that....

(Fireball passes overhead)
Wow! Missed that fireball while we chat.

The moral of this tale is... well,
Up to you; I cannot tell.

HAIKU
-by Masa-yuki Yamamoto (Japan)-

clear transparent chilly night sky
oh in Gemini many many stars
are coming out


III. METEOR POEMS

QUOTIDIAN
-by Boris Marian (Romania)-

If there is not love in the Cosmos,
then what is it?
My God, what is the substance
of the Cosmos?
Carried by my thought,
in my fragile spaceship,
I run in space,
I do not wait for mercy,
without helm and astrolabe,
I fly with my dream
like in an Arabian tale,
in a desert of fire and frost
lightened by stars,
which climb up or fall down,
healthy or mad
smiling to any nomad.

METEOR?
-by Ion Moraru (Romania)-

Sometimes a revelation.
An idea from a book of an undecided life.
The last sunbeam in an absurd day.
A joke on a sad morning.
A smiling face on a passing adolescent.
A moon appearing from between two clouds.
An unknown boy in levitation over a halt.
A letter, which is found in the corner of a bag.
Somebody who is gone, but returned to life through the eyes of someone
dear.

These are the hopes given by the train of a nocturnal meteor.

HAIKU
-by Steve Sneyd (U.K.)-

she stared till eyes hurt:
at last streaked through false dawn zoo
late, her wish forgot

CELESTIAL
-by Emanuela Ignatoiu-Sora (Romania)-

a fissured sky
and I entering like a burglar
roving through the warm circumstance
my light hitting the soft cover
of a golden fish
and finally again
I, going to the crater

THOUGHTS AROUND SARM'S "PERSEIDS XV" CAMP
-by Valentin Grigore (Romania)-

When Perseus throws his net somewhere between Andromeda and Cassiopeia
in order to take with him the meteor radiant, SARM's Perseid National
Camp just begins.
It is followed by observational expeditions, when Perseus opens the
net, overflowing the richness of light of the Perseid radiant.
Never forget to prepare a good place, between August 9 and August 15,
under the Perseid light!

METEOR
-by Anna Ruiz (U.S.A.)-

How silently
You walked with me
along the winding forest path,
green canticles of prayer
forming on cardinal red lips,

even

as you would enthrall me
with the liquid sea
shining
in my eyes

I, but
a grain of sand
vexed into
a pearl of time

evanescence
seeping
mountain mists
into
the Valley of the Sunrise,

pealing like lonely bells,
echoes of the moon,

just

bright fireballs
passing through
a long splendid night.

FIVE METEOR HAIKU
-by Dominic Diamant (Romania)-

a frolicsome
plunges into the whirlpool -
falling star

a witch
is driven away by the sun -
falling star

burning,
divine messages come to us -
falling stars

ripping the canopy
with astral convulsions -
falling star

when we shall die
the faithful falling stars
will cry for us

AURIGIDS 2007
-by Simona Vaduvescu (Hawaii; born in Romania)-

From Hale Pohaku, Mauna Kea:

1. Technical:

The Aurigids were:
-almost punctual (maximum at 11:15 UT, 18 minutes before the prediction);
-few (5 Aurigids and 1 Sporadic);
-bright (-6 magnitude for one of them);
-nicely colored, with long trains, yellow and a red one;
-slow.

2. Poetical

Celestial show
in early September
Earth kissing
Comet Kiess' trail.

THE CHAMPION
(to Lucian Ene, 1960-2007)
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)-

I have a friend, a former colleague
in the Sporting High School,
who was a national champion
of three swimming styles,
including “dolphin” (or “butterfly”),
where he defeated me
just in my moment of glory.

This defeat has marked my life,
making me change water sports
for astropoetry
(which is also a kind of swimming
through words and heavenly bodies),
while he became a national champion again,
firstly as a player in a water polo team,
and years later as the coach
of another water polo team.

I have always thought
he swims through water
loftier than a fireball
that swims through the atmosphere.

I recently heard that he started
towards the constellation Delphinus,
aiming at the title
of heavenly champion.

MASTER OF THE SKY
-by Irina Cristescu (Romania)-

He mysteriously passes
through the sky
and gulps the darkness
in a moment
with a rustling, with a pulsation.

Meteor in a hurry
hiding so many faces,
a single breath
lightening the unknown.

MY THOUGHTS
-by Eliza Trandafir (Romania)-

My feeling is a nova,
a vortex feeding me on life,
torrents consuming my being.

I look for my own thoughts,
for my own ideas,
I see them flying with the meteors,
or I see them among the stars,
but I do not understand them.

Will they spread
to the infinite?

Will they exhaust
my whole light?

HAIKU
-by Iulian Olaru (Romania)-

fangs of mountains
hungry for night
chew falling stars

LEONIDS 1998-2002
-by Adrian Sima (Romania)-

alarms in shells of snails

spatial death from the head
to the last fires
wrapping phoenix birds

above and below
deltas appear

starry iron lions
watch, attack, chatter
marking beginnings
from here
to the floral-cometary thoughts
of lucky beginnings

PROTECTION
-by Zigmund Tauberg (Romania)-

I always like to look at
nocturnal fire lines - meteors.
But they rarely touch Terra
because the atmosphere crushes them
as a shield for us.
However, we know that in the past,
between long time periods,
giant fireballs produced in their falls
immense, killing catastrophes
which changed all on this planet.

Will we be able in the future
to develop science so much
in order to eliminate this danger?

When people will do so,
they will really be great vectors:
masters of their lives
and Terra's protectors.

METEORS
-by Boris Marian (Romania)-

"We live nervous times"
think snails and caterpillars,
noises in the mouldy darkness,
mulberries fall from the moon,
a meteor appears in the sky,
what is its name?

"Pollen from stars"
that is in writings,
just flames and sparkles
which disappear too soon...

From then on,
we are mortal,
meteors in the high sky
which is eternal.

METEORS
-by Dan Mitrut (Romania)-

Why is life winged?
Starting…
December meteors,
souls of mortals, repeating
the great passing…


IV. RECOVERIES FROM THE PAST

METEOR IMAGES FROM MY POEMS COMPOSED IN COMMUNIST POLITICAL PRISONS.
(To A Beautiful Unknown Lady)
-by Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator (Romania)-

I sing the starry calls
Through diaphanous serenades...
Come to me,
Because the young years
Will disappear like some meteors
In the abyss of dumb time...
-1955, Dej prison-

METEOR
-by Dominic Diamant (Romania)-

Sometimes, my train of fire
is troubled by a groan like a song,
and I play it as a shining fan
thrilling seeds on Earth.

CURIOSITY
-by Arnold Leinweber (1920-2006, Romania)-

My thought is a magic meteor,
which I want to be winged
to wander in the Universe
star system after star system.

But what if a black hole
would absorb it
that I would not pass
over that border?

WAITING FOR THE LYRIDS
-by Emil Neata (Romania)-

Five clear nights in two weeks of holiday
in the countryside
in the second part of 2003 April.

I saw 5 sporadic meteors,
and only two meteors, of +3 magnitude,
came from the Lyrid radiant...

However, I saw a few galaxies of 11.4 magnitude
and two galaxies of 11.8 magnitude
(after many minutes of concentration
and a lot of technique,
a record for my telescope of 114 mm)
...but I didn't see any other Lyrids.

The most difficult galaxy was
NGC4236 in Draco,
while the most interesting deep sky objects were
13 galaxies spread among the stars
of Mel 111/Coma Berenices
(you should be delighted here
by only a round, shiny spot)
...but I didn't see any other Lyrids.

I also saw a lot of new open clusters
from the catalogues of NGC, IC and Collider,
some globulars and a planetary nebula from NGC,
and my favourite deep sky objects
...but I didn't see any other Lyrids.

Coming closer,
I saw Asteroid 4 Vesta
and I drew its motion for 48 hours
(as for my entertainment)
...but I didn't see any other Lyrids.

I saw Mercury every night
(it seemed so poor through my telescope)
and for variety
I observed some of the closest stars:
the Star of Barnard,
Lalande 21185,
Groombridge 1830 and 1618
(perhaps the first stars that will be visited
by people)
...but I didn't see any other Lyrids.

METEOR IMAGES FROM MY POEMS COMPOSED IN COMMUNIST POLITICAL PRISONS.
(To Another Beautiful Unknown Lady)
-by Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator (Romania)-

Your body - a stem.
Your being - a flower.
Your face - eternity from the
Threshold of your house,
And the dream of a flying being
Taking you into his sky vortex…
-1960, Galati prison-


V. PERSEIDS 2007
-an astropoetic youth workshop initiated by Cristina Slovineanu during
the "Perseids 2007" Camp of the Romanian Society for Meteors and
Astronomy-SARM-

*
I would have wanted eternity
I watch, and prolong my gaze
to catch thousands of ways
of bright stars
-Cristina Slovineanu-

*
I hide my gaze in the night
A lunette wanting to mirror
The sudden question mark
Of stellar ensigns
-Adi-

*
In the ecliptic plane
Placed in the vernal point
A meteor is looking for immortality
-Razvan & Mihai-

*
strange star
guardian moon
marine sky in a
quite discovered ecstasy
-Florinela-

*
Wake up under the naked sky
Without clouds or stars
Just look forward and
See the dust, see the light
Of stars being born, see
The meteors of a fallen wall.
-Bogdan Sarbu-

*
There is the polar star
up in the sky,
in fact... circumpolar,
an ephemeral fate
-Mihai-

*
And when...
what are they?
Clouds flow over the valley,
a fireball passes like a fool,
but it is so cool!
-Robert-

*
I have an open guitar
On an unwritten paper
In stardust in spaces
On my traces
-Madalina-

*
Circumpolar constellations,
Games in a stellar camp,
Look... it is a meteor! It is not a meteor!
All the time. So hot reactions!
-Tudor-

*
Trembling with cold
I uselessly smile
watching the creation of the world.
Through the stellar music
a quark sits
in the mysterious beginning.
-Dan-

*
Majestic Cassiopeia
rose over the horizon
enchanting the gazes
of lunar astronauts
travelling with the Cosmic Titanic
on the waves of the Ocean of Rains,
and carrying immense cases of beer
for the Great Galactic Party.
-Ruxandra Toma-

*
Swinging in a starry cloth,
a meteor didn't trust
the clouds...
and became just dust.
-Alexandra-


VI.TRIBUTE

TO COSTICA GHEORGHE (1927-2007),
A MAJOR SUPPORTER OF THE METEOR CONTEMPORARY POETRY PROJECT -by Andrei
Dorian Gheorghe (Romania)-

Father,
do you remember the Perseid nights
when we watched like two children
the meteors’ dance among the joyous stars?

Father,
do you remember how enthusiastically
you and my mother vibrated and helped me
in preparing “astro” and “meteor” exhibitions,
astropoetry galas
and international astroshows?

Maybe some day we shall be together again,
free to admire all the meteor showers
in the Universe,
free to prepare other exhibitions,
galas and astroshows
for other worlds,
better than this tragic Earth.

You, my mother and me,
we ourselves three falling stars.


***

Other meteor poem anthologies can be found at:

-Cosmopoetry - SARM and Friends
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro

-and Astropoetica
http://www.astropoetica.com