if I could reach out my hand, as a receptacle, a device, a receiver, across the entire world, and touch all cultures, would I gain the answers? I imagine – I can out stretch my hand, more astral than physical mind you, outward, into the universe, as far as my imagination tethers or allows, for surely I can not imagine beyond my own imagination, even though the cosmos must probe past those regions I can not fathom, if I could reach out toward and into that infinity, even just for a glimpse of that all reality, what would I see? would that knowledge satisfy my human curiosity or make it billion fold explode, I wonder, all there is to see out there, in between the dead space, space, like death itself a web that holds us all in, a trap we can not escape, but life persists, even in the darkest of dark depths explored, and that is just here, on this one little sphere, I wish I could know more else, other worlds, other selves, surely life is out there, how could it only be here? if I only could outstretch my hand and touch the universe as a whole, I wish, and I dream it so.
As you might know I am a stargazer and a SETI aficionado so it influences my work often, and this would be one of those works, when I think of topics things just flow, it is just the way I write, I mean, cmon man how can you not look up there and wonder! ?
1.2.19 “constellation”
if I might be a constellation
once a nebula in contemplation
expanding outward toward the never
procession onward with the season’s lever
all from a man’s eye might notice the change
and map these stars with lighted frames
magical creatures and mystical charms
our imaginings drawn upon cosmic forms
our first attempt to travel there
even if only to see beyond
but imagine a world outside our own
light that travels at the speed of dawn
still yet older than our ancient spawn,
might I be a constellation
and favor back
plot the earth with mine own tack
and see a marble of brightest blue
tracking cross my nightly view
and report to all in time’s sake
stories, myths, and legend’s take
upon that which what we devise
a range of spectrum in these eyes
to pass down the rumination of stars
the engine of pure imagination – ours
I must admit I have been fascinated for a long time about the possibility of life out there, you know, the great vast out there, surely larger than us, our planet is literally a speck of dust, sure, we don’t like to think about it that way, but we can not all be ostriches about the whole thing, I ponder this topic in my mind, all the time, when I am buzzing about as a normal citizen my mind is trying the rubik’s of the universe out, so I am drawn to SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence), our chances of finding others is slim because of the size of the universe (we will need some luck, but luck is what made the earth … the earth if you look at all the factors involved), we have been sending out signals to the stars via radio and TV transmissions for roughly 100 years now… imagine a million years from now that some civilization receives our signal, it will happen, but will we still be around ? there is more heady stuff to consider as well because of the sheer distance between stars, for example it may take 100 years for a signal to reach an amenable target, if their technology is like ours (not likely) it may take 100 years to receive an answer, and in that 100 years back so much will happen, furthermore imagine if some advanced society detected us in the 1700’s and sent a signal, we did not have the capability to respond, so our efforts might be the same, we truly have to pass through the eye of the needle at this point in our evolution to find another civilization out in the universe, i will probably not see it in my lifetime, but there is hope, humans are clever little beings, and I believe in their ability. thusly that brings me to this composition:
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
“echoes of the universe” 12.5.2018
voices from a distant star
a signal, or false alarm
or arrived to late
as civilizations fall,
our ears as dishes we turn to the sky
to the outer, to the beyond the space of our earth
Voyager is of course (well I say that because I am a science geek but I should not assume) the project that launched 2 ships in 1977 that are still out there traveling past our solar system into interstellar space (Voyager 1 is the first man made object to do so, Voyager 2 still has a ways to go to escape the influence of our sun… think about that, we launched something in 1977 that still is under the influence of our sun… and is traveling at over 30,000 mph all the time – nuts!). So I recently watched a documentary about the Voyager mission called “The Farthest”… (I reviewed it here on my Facebook media review page).. it is amazingly inspirational to see what people in the 70’s were able to accomplish (and to see their enthusiasm and reaction to this amazing triumph of humanity)… The computers then compared to now… I mean..wow ! My cell phone has 1000 times the power those little Voyager units do… BUT… they will outlive us all, being in space there is a ton of … (wait for it) …. space! seriously space here seems so cramped (at times) but the space of space (that sounds confusing) is insane compared to what we consider here as the volume of personal space (I am trying to say they won’t have a car accident as astral traffic is very light). So these little voyager units are out there… zooming into the unknown, the vikings, chris columbus, hell… they ain’t got nothing on these little things.. totally inspiring. So hence these poems the next few days…
“voyager 1” 6.15.18
might I walk upon
the surface of the sun
like a god
and look down below
onto the earth
a gem
a pearl
the cradle of life
the dawn of man
and all we know
I spy out into the endless expanse
and spot a messenger
a voyager
our postcard
our greeting card
our extended hand
and I utter
godspeed voyager
godspeed
as you blaze blindly bravely
into the unknown
your passenger of knowledge
forever into the cosmos
you go
I already posted once about the Seti : pharos album, that is some trippy space stuff… but it applies here, so I am posting it again… I have probably listened to that album 10,000 times, it is one of those things I play when I want to sleep and have dreams… that I am a voyager. Because… maybe the only scrap of humanity that will ever survive is aboard those vessels.. they are time capsules of our civilization…
I think about life… and death. I have no memory of any life before mine so am I destined to be just a grain of sand… who disperses into the nothingness of the vast ocean of the universe ?
life began as a proton having a menage a trois with some electrons leading to a single cell organism living happily in a puddle of chemical muck of amino acid building blocks… and then that single thing decides to replicate (as we all want to do but amoebas did not believe in birth control apparently)… eventually pull itself from the slime (some millions of years later) and climb onto the land … and suddenly has the choice of a galaxy or an iphone.. truly evolution.
for this poem I am invoking a bunch of science… I am saying we could be ‘flat’ not referring to Flat earth belief… but that we think in 3D when there are other dimensions out there.. so we would appear flat to something in a 4D universe (I am also referencing string theory), I know, heady stuff… but I if we just live and die.. what is the point ? I want to believe there is more… we all do.. some have religion.. some have science… I have nothing… I am still looking, hoping, searching…
So science (at this time.. because real science changes all the time) tells us by observation that space is actually pretty empty (that’s why the little voyager probes will probably outlive our civilization… 70s tech will last a billion years! oh the power of hot stuff!). Of course there is the new grease in between the creases thing (see what I mean about science evolving). So there is immense space in between things but we feel so … connected in our tiny tiny corner of one galaxy in the vast immense insanely large universe… hard to wrap a primitive mind around… so that is what I was thinking about… the space within our space and how we fill our space within that space. Heady stuff… but… we only have one life, why not contemplate it all, even if it is much easier to just eat work sleep… I am no different, I’m trying to be, to focus on being a phoenix because I know I am, we all are (well, honestly not every one, I am talking to you, those reading this who have that spark), we choose normal (even our normal) because it takes constant effort to be the pinnacle… but we do owe it to ourselves, even though we will fail… but at least we can get some stuff done… my opinion.
music. super chill ambient. Seti “Pharos”, of course SETI is the project to try and detect alien life using the world’s best radio telescopes (like the amazing Arecibo array). This album is a total trip through the cosmos, you can almost imagine the stars as you travel past them (well, at least I can). draw the shades or curtains, lay back, turn up the bass a little and imagine flying through space passing stars, asteroids and planets… and contemplate what Frank Drake was trying to quantify… definitely some super food for thought. I appreciate all comments and feedback.. and criticism.. man I love complaints because how the hell am I supposed to see this through your eyes? hint: I can’t!
Shades of My Garden 