Magazine Posts

When I was a young child,
I loved to explore, the creek
which passed by our back door.
The sound of the water, over rock
and stone; the attack on my senses,
as water, gurgled and splashed,
are memories, from a long ago past.
Turn over a rock and you would find,
a little creature; a periwinkle.
It's shell was hard; sand and grit,
to protect the larvae, living within.
They hatched in the Spring, a May fly,
and the fish, in the stream, ate again.
There were little fish, a "Bullhead"
looked like a small catfish, to me.
As my recall is slipping away,
but I have remembrances, mine,
which I will recall again and again.

Talent comes and the talent
will soon formant,
if the skill you have
is a compliment.
Come you now, forlorn soul,
you can repent,
if the words your hear,
are heaven sent.
It matters not to me,
for this bent,
as long as you still
pay me your rent.

The years go fast,
as do the days.
There is no slowing,
during this life's phase.
Get you up early,
go to bed late.
Burn the candle,
at both ends,
is now my fate.

The words in my head,
keep spinning around,
much like a new blender,
but without any sound.
So why does it happen?
My words aren't renown,
unless you have mistaken me
for an old, foolish clown.

The words I write, on paper thin,
are words I will write down again.
Why do you write words, as before?
Show them out now; out the door.
Stay away. Keep out of my head.
It's 3 AM. I should be in bed.

How do words, dull as they are,
become sharper than razor knives,
when said with your tongue;
become so hateful, at least to me.
For the words which can be said,
may case much love or be painfully
hurtful, no matter the day or time,
when said in passion,
washed down with wine.

Something odd has come
over me,
for I know not who
I be.
I see I walk on two
feet, mine,
but notice I have a pair of
crooked arms
So what do you suppose
I be,
when it is only a reflection
I see?
A new normal is now on
its way.
A far different kind than we
have today.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Fifty years ago this Sunday (February 7, 1971), the crew of Apollo 14 left lunar orbit and headed for home. They watched this Earthrise from their command module Kittyhawk. With Earth's sunlit crescent just peeking over the lunar horizon, the cratered terrain in the foreground is along the lunar farside. Of course, while orbiting the Moon, the crew could watch Earth rise and set, but from the lunar surface the Earth hung stationary in the sky over their landing site at Fra Mauro Base. Rock samples returned from Fra Mauro included a 20 pound rock nicknamed Big Bertha, determined to contain a likely fragment of a meteorite from planet Earth. Kept on board the Kittyhawk during the Apollo 14 mission was a cannister of 400-500 seeds that were later grown into Moon Trees.

Whence came the wild look in your eyes?
What spark is it which makes you wise?
Where do we go from here? This place
Is not for us, unlike others, it's about face.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Fifty years ago this Friday, Apollo 14's Lunar Module Antares landed on the Moon. Toward the end of the stay astronaut Ed Mitchell snapped a series of photos of the lunar surface while looking out a window, assembled into this detailed mosaic by Apollo Lunar Surface Journal editor Eric Jones. The view looks across the Fra Mauro highlands to the northwest of the landing site after the Apollo 14 astronauts had completed their second and final walk on the Moon. Prominent in the foreground is their Modular Equipment Transporter, a two-wheeled, rickshaw-like device used to carry tools and samples. Near the horizon at top center is a 1.5 meter wide boulder dubbed Turtle rock. In the shallow crater below Turtle rock is the long white handle of a sampling instrument, thrown there javelin-style by Mitchell. Mitchell's fellow moonwalker and first American in space, Alan Shepard, also used a makeshift six iron to hit two golf balls. One of Shepard's golf balls is just visible as a white spot below Mitchell's javelin.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Was the oldest known rock on Earth found on the Moon? Quite possibly. The story opens with the Apollo 14 lunar mission. Lunar sample 14321, a large rock found in Cone crater by astronaut Alan Shepard, when analyzed back on Earth, was found to have a fragment that was a much better match to Earth rocks than other Moon rocks. Even more surprising, that rock section has recently been dated back 4 billion years, making it older, to within measurement uncertainty, than any rock ever found on Earth. A leading hypothesis now holds that an ancient comet or asteroid impact launched Earth rocks into the Solar System, some of which fell back to the Moon, became mixed with heated lunar soil and other rocks, cooled, and re-fragmented. The video features an internal X-ray scan of 14321 showing multiple sections with markedly different chemistries. Moon rocks will continue to be studied to learn a more complete history of the Moon, the Earth, and the early Solar System. Friday marks the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 14 landing on the Moon.