[Martin Elster]

Deleted poem.

[F.F. Teague]

Ah yes, the terzanelle. (A pause to consult Wikipedia.)

Very good, Martin. I'd forgotten about this thread. I like the 'Shires and Clydesdales'. Shires look like they're wearing flared trousers, which pleases me. I looked up 'Clydesdales'; they have a cool vibe too.

Has this poem been published anywhere?

Best wishes,
Fliss

[Martin Elster]

Hi Fliss. Thanks. The terzanelle is not as common as the other "-nelle," but it's a pretty interesting variation. Both Shire horses and Clydesdales look like they have bell-bottoms. Thanks for liking the poem. It's not published. But now that I think about it, I'll submit it someplace.

[F.F. Teague]

You're welcome, Martin; I'll have to try the terzanelle one day. Best of luck with the poem :-)

[Martin Elster]

Astronomy in the Seventeenth Century

You sit in a kimono-like silk robe,
observe the Dragon, Hercules, the Bear
and Lyra on your multicolored globe,
and eavesdrop as they speak of an elsewhere

beyond your ken. A manual on the table
is open to the saying, "inspiration
from God," a practicable guide to enable
a man to learn the stars and navigation.

How dare you go against the sacred scheme,
commit attempts to learn about the earth,
the nature of the suns and worlds that beam
their facts to prying scientists. A dearth

of hands-on research is what they expect.
Is that the reason you've no telescope?
God's frightened His whole system could be wrecked
if you don't wash your notions out with soap.

The globe now, in slow motion, detonates,
the constellations flung every which way.
You fall as your gray matter vacillates
between the urge to blaspheme or to pray.

(Appeared in The Ekphrastic Review.)

If you want to see the picture of The Astronomer, by Johannes Vermeer, here is the link.
https://www.ekphrastic.net/ekphrasti...-martin-elster

[Martin Elster]

Gazing Up

Walking out of the chain store, beginning his stroll
down the road to his house, underneath the sky’s bowl,
he looks up and sees points that are smaller than peas:
Jupiter rising above the dark trees;

Venus en route to the western skyline
leashed to the sun like a docile canine;
and higher, bright Cygnus (the beautiful swan),
and the Summer Triangle. Yet others are gone,

for the streetlights obliterate much of the view
of the cosmic expanse above Fern Avenue.
He can’t see the faint band of the great Milky Way,
can’t descry constellations too subtle, no ray

of light from those heavenly bodies will make it
to his eyes. A strange thought floats around. He can’t shake it:
As blind as the foxes and bats to the heavens,
man hunts not for the stars, but for 7-Elevens.

[F.F. Teague]

Hi Martin,

These are great. Congrats for getting the first into the Ekphrastic Review. I enjoyed reading it especially in combination with the pic. I like the imagery in S1 and the lead-up to the questionings. The final stanza is dramatic and a fitting end.

I like 'Grazing Up' too. I enjoy looking at the night sky. Good to see Jovial Jove again and Venus of course. I need to write a poem about a swan for my bird club, as our pen died recently :-( :>( (we are sad)

Lol at '7-Elevens'; yes, very useful. I was very well known to the staff at my local once upon a time.

I haven't had time to write my eclipse poem yet. I think I might have to start getting up earlier in the morning to fit in creative time amidst work :-/

Best wishes,
Fliss

[F.F. Teague]

Solar eclipse, Dartington, 11th August 1999

The music ends and silence is our cue to move from garden grounds
to wild and windswept grasslands at the end of one ascending track
along whose narrow banks the drama class begins to call in rounds
and R. is there and watching me and shouting shivers down my back.

The sun’s behind the clouds when all we gather over green and brown
in groups and trying glasses on the jettest black in yellow frames
and pater says these people don’t know physics with a comic frown
and R. is there and watching me and I am sun in auburn flames.

And suddenly the darkness sweeps across the field with sun still in
yet strong enough to cause this rush this running over earth to sea
my pulse is racing blood on fire and heating all my freckled skin
and R. is there and watching me and watching me and watching me.

🌘 🌑 🌒

[F.F. Teague]

I meant to post this one yesterday, tying in with the solstice at Stonehenge. It was commissioned by Happenstance Border Morris and I'm going to set it to music at some stage :-)


Song of the Stones

Here we stand upon the plain
00in our weathered ring;
know the nature of our grain,
00hear the song we sing.

Millions of years ago
00on our native land,
steady sea and river flow
00layered silt and sand.

Onto silt-sand water poured,
00full of magic quartz,
formed a solid sarsen hoard
00fit for shielding forts.

Ice Age freeze and thaw swept Earth,
00cracked the sandstone store,
so we boulders had our birth
00as majestic tor.

On the southern downs we lay
00in our grassy bed,
until one New Stone Age day,
00Man came by and said:

'We have built a healing place
00high on yonder mound;
now we ask, with goodly grace,
00come, protect our ground.'

We agreed and sledge was rolled,
00with five hundreds force,
sky turned purple, red and gold,
00as we took our course.

Then Man raised us with glad cries
00all round bluestones shrine,
stars shone countless wondrous eyes
00on our lofty line.

Thus began our watch to keep
00till the end of time,
when this world at last shall sleep,
00silencing our rhyme.

Here we stand upon the plain
00in our weathered ring;
know the nature of our grain,
00hear the song we sing.

[Martin Elster]

Fliss, "Song of the Stones" is a marvelous poem. The perfectly consistent trochaic meter, the voice of the stones, and alliteration are delightful.

I also enjoyed the solar eclipse poem. But I can't help wondering who "R." is. I can't decide if this person is a bystander just being annoying, is the teacher of the drama class, or a fellow drama student who is obsessively infatuated with the N.

By the way, have you ever wondered why, during a solar eclipse, the Moon's shadow moves across Earth faster than Earth spins on its axis? Yes, the shadow always moves from west to east, racing ahead of the ground or the sea. It's because the Moon moves faster in its orbit around Earth than Earth rotates.

The Moon orbits Earth at a speed of 2,288 miles per hour.
The surface of the earth at the equator moves at a speed of roughly 1,000 miles per hour.
So the moon moves far faster than Earth spins!
And that's also why it rises in the east later each night. The Moon overtakes the earth's rotation every day.