Saturn waits in the cold quiet of space,
A sentinel wrapped in golden rings,
Its pale light leans over hidden moons,
Each orb dances in elliptical patience.
Storms turn on its vast gaseous surface,
Cloud bands swirl with silent secrets,
Ammonia crystals shimmer in the upper haze,
There is no ground, only layers upon layers.
Shadows of rings sweep across its pale yellow,
A crown of icy debris, ancient and unbroken.
Enceladus glistens, flinging geysers skyward,
Titan cloaks itself in an orange mystery.
Saturn whispers stories to distant spacecraft,
The wind is measured in hundreds of miles per hour.
Light takes more than an hour to reach it from our sun,
Patience is written into every orbit.
It is both beacon and enigma to astronomers,
A world of hydrogen, helium, and longing.
If we listen, the planet hums with unseen music,
Its beauty is the silence between the stars.
Skating
‘round the rings of
Saturn, my Triple Lutz
lands in my dreams. Mighty Mimas
looks and beams, but nearby Enceladus
screams when Pan drives the Zamboni,
right over poor Methone.
Complicating
Skating.
February 2022
"Give Me a Rictameter" Poetry Contest sponsored by M. L. Kiser
Biology TED talk, Ken Burns WWII
Multiple choice plus open response =
Teacher cares, out there among the English
Mathematics, fractions to imaginary i
Anything can happen any time, I mean
Mass killing--public school, movie theater,
Post office when every mother wears a gun
Yet happiness permeates like CO2 + sunlight
Photosynthesis + electricity = burning bush
Hot tea, hot shower pleasure perfect rest
Early to bed, no more lies, complexity
Poetry about history, i.e. Wolfowitz
As for non-fiction, most things qualify to know
Astrobiology, search for LUCA, FLO
Minerals on Titan, organisms on Enceladus
Divination on Iapetus, peace on Earth and Tethys
Volcanoes and tsunamis, Big Red One and Private Ryan
Don't stay up late, take your vitamins
Sin and crime being nothing more than
Mental malaise, imbalance. Love and compromise
Tolerance, practice worksheets, brilliance
Prejudice and superstition, Tha's a wrap
Nothin doin, ain't gonna happen, freedom's when
Yes is mostly a blessing and No is always an option
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