Predate physicality

More from the you got science in my poetry collection --

impossible mystery
eyes can never see
space outside the universe
time before the beginning
magic deeper still


sing the silent song
breathe the endless void
float, fall, fly, sans gravity
grab handfuls of nothingness
that came before existence


kiss the quickening cosmos
as she spins, ripples, stretches
ever expanding 'verses
dancing far beyond
imagination

Ancient Japanese poetry + too much Science Channel

The Science Channel is a remarkable source of inspiration for poetry.  I didn't even set out to write these sorts of poems, it just happened.  Have you seen "Through the Wormhole"?  I don't know how to process such truly wild, mind blowing knowledge and information.  It all winds up just dancing around in my head and I want to put it down somehow, even if I can't possibly understand all of the technicalities.  Some of these poems are also partially products of my current sci-fi kick (e.g."Sunshine," "Doctor Who") and whatever genre you want to call "Tree of Life."  So here is a first selection of my science series of tanka poems with more to come, I'm sure.  To think, hundreds of years ago, artists and samurai used this same form to speak of cherry blossoms...

Created in destruction
Now unbonded particles
Returned to stardust
Free from gravity
Swimming in expansive space

Singularity
Forever balanced
On the event horizon
The inexplicable edge
Of precarious knowledge

Intelligence created
Out of primordial ooze
Such simple-minded beings
I hear God laughing --
Darwin wasn't wrong

Calypso feathers

Some of you may remember from an earlier entry that our family has a cockatiel named Squeaker. We also had a lovebird named Calypso. Or perhaps I should say my mother had a lovebird, who was kind enough to share himself with me. He was such a mama's boy! Well, Calypso died in February at the ripe old age of 12. (I understand the 8 - 10 is good for a lovebird.)

You've seen some of Squeaker's antics, so let me tell you a bit about Calypso. First, he was green. His favorite pastimes included baths, chewing things, and heckling Squeaker. He was just a little bird, but apparently no one told him that. He was unafraid of pretty much anything, had a never-ending supply of energy, and a peep that could be heard for miles around. He didn't talk -- the only human sound he imitated was a kissy noise, which was completely endearing. We always said that if he were to pick up something else it would probably be a belch or a swear word. He was just that perverse, yet the ultimate charmer.

We buried Calypso on Easter among the spring flowers, sent off with these two poems I wrote --

Calypso feathers
Cannot contain his ego
Unaware of height
A tiny frame taking flight
Peeps mightily in God's ear

Proclaiming green-ness,
Pointy beaked upside down-ness.
For the love of noise,
Sheer joy of being alive --
I peep because I'm happy!

And I think that's pretty much Calypso in a nutshell. I don't want to get too sentimental, but if I ever needed a lesson in joie de vivre, I need look no further than the tiny green person who would drink water from my fingers and let me scratch his head.

Tanka poetry

I may not be making blog entries as frequently as I'd like to, but I have been writing. Poetry mostly. My favorite kind to write is tanka poetry, which I recently discovered is not exactly what I always thought it was. . .

I started writing tanka poetry in about 10th grade as a requirement. Our textbooks taught us that tanka is an ancient style of Japanese poetry, similar to haiku, but having 31 syllables instead of just 17. This appealed to me, as I tend to be verbose. So, a tanka poem would have five lines -- two lines of 5 syllables each and three lines of 7 syllables each which could be placed in any order, according to said textbook. Well, I recently Googled tanka poetry when a friend asked me about it, and learned that in fact, there is a preferred pattern -- the lines are traditionally arranged 5-7-5-7-7.

Ack! Does this mean all the poems I've been writing all these years are wrong? Well, once I thought about it a bit I realized, no. That would be silly. For starters, to be a true tanka, it should be written in Japanese so the rules have already been bent. And the 5-7-5-7-7 thing is only customary -- from what I read, there aren't too many hard-and-fast type rules for tanka in English, especially nowadays. Besides, it's supposed to be art, emotion.

Now, mostly I write poetry for myself and don't tend to share it with too many people. But, since it's a new year, I thought maybe I'd step outside my comfort zone a bit and share a few tanka with you all. I looked through my archives and found this poem I wrote years ago that just happens to follow the official pattern:

Dandelion seeds
Drifting away on a breeze
Like so many dreams
You never dared to follow
Dancing just beyond your reach

And here's one from a few days ago that doesn't:

Pyromaniac's delight
Fire destroys to create
Scorched edges, ashes falling
Find what's left behind -
Beauty in relief

So I choose to keep writing with the guidelines I remember from my high school textbook -- each poem should express a single thought or emotion and use nature imagery -- and I'll let the 5 or 7 syllables fall where they may. I find the writing very therapeutic and I would encourage anyone else who's interested to give it a try. Click if you'd like to learn more about tanka