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Diamond In the Sky

A dead star that inspired this poem--the companion of the star 55 Cancri, in the constellation of Cancer the Crab--has now shrunk to only about twice the size of earth yet is extraordinarily massive, leading astronomers to conclude that its surface and outer crust consist entirely of diamond. In slumber now and thence to dream of space-time’s stirred and curving sweep, where stellar furies set agleam the velvet thrall of endless deep. Here among a billion suns, solo Klieg cued nascent spark. Ensuing life o'er an eon runs ere treading path of torpid dark. Adorned in crystal, its bequest— fusion’s fire did else abate— bejeweled then, this orb compressed, now fields of diamonds lie and wait. Yet perish need to search the endless skies— diamonds sparkle here in lovely eyes.

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Andrea Dietrich

Date: 8/8/2021 11:25:00 AM

I see I commented to this one back in 2014 and called my muse a golden retriever. How fun that was!!! It's cool to go back and see the things we said years before.

Andrea Dietrich

Date: 8/8/2021 11:24:00 AM

wow, I see how this is number one in your BEST poems list as chosen by members. Had you entered it in the anthology? This is such great writing too, Mark. I think you can easily be a top poet. I just see you have not written a lot of poems compared to those here with hundreds of them, so and get that golden pen busy!!

Line Gauthier

Date: 9/11/2018 8:27:00 PM

Lovely. Much enjoyed. Congrats on your win, Mark.

Mark Peterson
Date: 9/11/2018 9:24:00 PM

Thank you, Line, for taking notice of my work. How far could I go, absent the thoughtful attention of others.

Jesse Rowe

Date: 9/11/2018 7:56:00 PM

It was only on the third reading of this that I caught the subtle turn of the closing couplet. This was everything I had hoped to find in my contest. Such a lovely and unexpectedly romantic poem!

Mark Peterson
Date: 9/11/2018 8:04:00 PM

Jesse, sent you mail, but to reiterate, thanks so much for hosting this contest. This poem got N/A twice, but, as you see, it was favorably by members. The closing couplet was suggested by Andrea, allowing me to form it into a Sonnet. Thanks again!

Connie Marcum Wong

Date: 1/10/2018 12:29:00 AM

This poem is a jeweled gift Mark and I thank you for it! Another that is going into my Faves! : )

Suzanne C. Goudreau

Date: 6/26/2014 9:57:00 PM

I am in awe with this read. Powerful and brilliantly crafted. A real gem. Thank you for sharing!

Mark Peterson
Date: 6/27/2014 2:41:00 AM

Suzanne, thanks so much for your kind attention and uplifting remarks for my poetry, shared with pleasure.

Robert Lindley

Date: 6/4/2014 8:46:00 PM

I love reading very deep writes. Even more so when they are brilliant!! My simple style never matches such gems but hope springs eternal that they still please some. This write is a wonderful gem my friend, simply wonderful!!!!! Into my fav it goes, can not resist. Thanks

Mark Peterson
Date: 6/5/2014 1:18:00 AM

Thank you so much Robert. Many people give up on my poetry, myself often included. Yours is delightful.

Kim Van Breda

Date: 3/5/2014 12:44:00 PM

Beautiful analogy and expression here Mark. Diamonds... love IT !!

Mark Peterson
Date: 3/5/2014 2:07:00 PM

Thank you so much, Kim. I lived in the little town of Durbanville, then Muizenberg and Vishoek. I still recall some train station names when traveling to town, like Observatory, Claremont and Mowbray. I climbed Table Mountain but took the cable car down. Nice memories. Sorry to hear of difficulties now. Nice if you can find something here. Be sure to consider Canada as well.

Sophia Valentina

Date: 2/23/2014 11:31:00 AM

Mark, this is truly beautiful. I lost my self inside the imagery you painted with your words. I do believe this to be my most favorite poem of any I've read so far on the soup.

Mark Peterson
Date: 2/23/2014 11:55:00 PM

Such a kindness, Sophia. I wish you could see your poems through my eyes, and you'd see sentiments reflected from the surface of a perfect sheet of glass.

Isaiah Zerbst

Date: 2/13/2014 6:00:00 PM

A rather vague poem, I believe; but the beauty of that is that it can be applied many different ways in the readers' minds. Reading it after your explanatory notes certainly changed how I viewed the poem, yet both interpretations were deep within the beauties of space.

Mark Peterson
Date: 2/13/2014 6:59:00 PM

Isaiah, thanks for stopping by and commenting. Yeah, it kind of came to me in a vague way and needed someone to make it clearer, but I myself couldn't find the words. It's like a joke you have to explain, and, of course, that means it won't be funny. I like writing about deep space, however.

Debbie Guzzi

Date: 2/6/2014 10:20:00 PM

I love the sound of this, the feel of the words in my mouth, yet even I am not sure what you are trying to tell us basic problem here is we might know if the subject was in verse 1[A dead star in crystal dressed—fusion’s fire did else abate—bejeweled then, this orb compressed,/ a diamond remnants lain in wait.][Here among a billion suns, solo Klieg cues nascent spark./ Ensuing life o'er eon runs/ ere treading path of torpid dark

Mark Peterson
Date: 2/7/2014 8:04:00 AM

I'm glad you liked this. Your rewrite of my poem is interesting. Not being a student of poetry, I based the structure on Poetry Soup's definition of the Shakespearean Sonnet, which omits the ten syllable per line stricture.

Debbie Guzzi
Date: 2/6/2014 10:21:00 PM

.][In slumber now and thence to dream of space-time’s stirred and curving sweep, where stellar furies set agleam/ the velvet thrall of endless deep.][Why search the span of endless skies/when diamonds sparkle here in lovely eyes.] Light & Love [don't GO!] * Shakespearian 10 syllables a line - but who cares the bigger problem was not making the subject clear

Scott Thirtyseven

Date: 2/6/2014 3:53:00 AM

Off to a wedding and the coast for a good few days, so I'm clearing my backlog of "can I please Tweets". I'll be back on Wednesday, feel free to tell me how it goes. May success be our shadows, Scott

Scott Thirtyseven
Date: 2/12/2014 2:15:00 AM

Wow 551 reads, and 6 "share this"s, hope I had something to do with that. If not I'll just pretend and enjoy the triumph anyway. Thanks again for the thumbs up.

Mark Peterson
Date: 2/7/2014 3:51:00 PM

Great, Scott (Great Scott!), I look forward to your return

Karen Anglesey

Date: 2/1/2014 12:35:00 PM

A very original subject and beautiful imagery. Very much enjoyed this.

Mark Peterson
Date: 2/3/2014 4:44:00 PM

Much appreciated, Karen. It wouldn't have been written but for adhering to the theme of the contest. I didn't place but glad to know people like and appreciate it anyway.

Sarai Virden

Date: 1/31/2014 4:47:00 AM

Absolutely beautiful!

Mark Peterson
Date: 2/3/2014 4:43:00 PM

Thanks, Sarai. I appreciate your comments so much and your devotion to my poetry. Have a good week.

Debbie Guzzi

Date: 1/28/2014 7:27:00 AM

Mark its your turn on sonnet 4 in the Crown [I'd don't see your comments on the blog I hope you are still with us? You & Craig & the Scribe are competing for sonnet 4] Light & Love

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/28/2014 10:20:00 AM

Debbie, I did post a comment yesterday, stating my preference for C.L. edited. Curious because I actually examined it after posting; however, when I went there today, it was missing. Strange. Anyway, I'm still with you and will get to work on light and love. Stay tuned!

Roy Jerden

Date: 1/25/2014 12:36:00 PM

BTW, one of Paul Simon's songs had a title that would have fit: "Diamonds on the soles of her feet". Got me thinking about pulsars and neutron stars, Robert Forward's "Starquake" and the like.

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/25/2014 1:02:00 PM

Actually Diamonds on the Souls of her Shoes with the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. This cut is one of my five top favorites in terms of excellent audio production--a great sound system test. Gosh, I'd forgotten about "Starquake," read years ago. Do you want to try a poem together on Gamma Ray Bursts?

Roy Jerden

Date: 1/25/2014 12:33:00 PM

Re: That's the rub: I wrote a poem called "La Bejarena" about the wife of a Texas hero, who was not buried with him in the state notables cemetery and in fact, whose burial site was not even known. It caused such a stir within the Navarro clan that they spent the effort to find her and have now filed papers to have her moved. So the poem is no longer valid to some extent, but a good thing in the end, anyway.

David Williams

Date: 1/25/2014 10:48:00 AM

Mark just back for another read of this beauty...David

Roy Jerden

Date: 1/24/2014 10:19:00 PM

I like how you started off paraphrasing Shakespeare, then moved on to the astrophysics, with some good metaphors. I see that there has been some re-thinking around 55 Cancri e. Glad to see a scientist here, even happier to see no honorific used. Check out my "Kiss of the Eagle" poem. Cheers, Roy

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/25/2014 11:02:00 AM

Aye, there's the rub.

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/25/2014 12:19:00 AM

I love to write about the sky and to spin rhyme around the astrophysics. A few of the best can be poetic and deeply profound: Einstein, Newton, Clarke and Sagan, bless his dear departed but pedantic heart. Honorifics, ugh. As Clarke said, "It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value." Or poetic value, for that matter. Thanks so much, Roy, for your generous reads of my poems.

Mandy Tams The Golden Girl

Date: 1/24/2014 11:53:00 AM

Beautiful Mark xx

Mark Peterson
Date: 4/24/2015 7:01:00 PM

Here I am reviewing comments on poems and find yours unanswered. Thank you so much for the praise, MT. Hope you're doing well. I've been rather silent of late, awaiting verses from the deep—in vain for some time now.

Cyndi Macmillan

Date: 1/23/2014 8:42:00 PM

PS-- I know it wasn't "real" and I only did this for purely sentimental reasons, but I "bought" a star for my father... I gave the certificate to him a few days before Christmas, as he was in palliative care and I sensed... well, he died on a Christmas Eve... and I never regreted my purchase, though I know it is only a gift of the heart... I love that you see romanticism in the science you practice. Like a surgeon who believes in the soul... even though he has never found one ;)

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/23/2014 10:12:00 PM

Guess I'm not much of a scientist because I believe in some things I cannot see. Poetry comes from someplace, but who knows where. I've never seen the realm and haven't glimpsed my muse. But, oh, they're real.

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/23/2014 10:09:00 PM

Years ago, I remodeled my planetarium (Gates Planetarium in Denver), and we sold a limited number of bright stars to help commemorate the opening. Later, I was fortunate to lead a Museum trip to the Caribbean and was able to point out Canopus in the sky there. A couple had bought it in honor of their son who had recently passed. Touching moment, so your experience resonates with me perfectly.

Cyndi Macmillan

Date: 1/23/2014 8:38:00 PM

I love your imagery. Nothing cliche, reads as fresh and imaginative. I think you'll enjoy Debbie's workshop. As said, the more questions,, the better. I'm a writer of contemporary sonnets, but love the tone of both its classic and modern counterparts. From what I can see, you don't only know how to tread sonnet waters, methinks you swim just fine, yes I surely do :)

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/23/2014 10:05:00 PM

Cyndi, this is just great and definitely keeps me going. Wonderful to hear the words of a great poet. I tried all these keys in a lock until one of them finally opened the door, and inside I found a sonnet, the last two lines stimulated by Andrea. It was a quatrain before that. Thank you so much.

Painted Hunter

Date: 1/23/2014 12:20:00 PM

Top-notch stuff here Mark. You're good!

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/23/2014 10:00:00 PM

Very much appreciated Caleb. This was my first sonnet. Your comment makes me feel so good because good poetry, like good chess, can't be faked. I'm glad I found these words.

Eileen Manassian

Date: 1/23/2014 11:59:00 AM

I love looking up at the stars....My dad instilled a love of astronomy in us as he would point out the constellations...I had a dream once....about they passing my by..It was surreal. This poem capture the beauty of the heavens...but also that inner beauty. Those last two lines..HEAVENLY!

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/23/2014 10:02:00 PM

Oh, yes, thank Andrea for the last two lines you liked. I wrote them, but they wouldn't be there except for her.

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/23/2014 9:55:00 PM

Many thanks for your story and lovely comments. I love writing about the stars and space, been that way since about age seven. I too had a dream when I was about twelve in which I floated past Uranus. The thing is, I woke up and told my parents that I had seen rings around it. This was several years before they were discovered.

Andrea Dietrich

Date: 1/22/2014 9:25:00 PM

hey, you did a couplet for it. AWESOME!!! And how funny that you called my muse a golden retriever. that is sure an interesting way to see my mind!!! wish it really were that true!

Mark Peterson
Date: 1/23/2014 10:38:00 PM

Well, you retrieve amazing things from that mind of yours, and they are truly golden. I hope you take this as a compliment!