Contributor Posts

Once lived the troll, Orion,
from out the bridge he peeked,
a figure of forgiveness
to help those who seek.

"What hath thy wrought?"
I would hear Orion say.
"Have you brought the goodness,
we need most, every day?"

There was no reply or movement,
someone would always say.
Now there was indifference
and we will go away.

When the twisted tails of Dragons,
stretched across the jaded skies,
as if comprised of insects
disguised as Fireflies.

Hot bursts of flames
from out the Dragon's mouth,
as it moved from East to West,
fading in the darkening South.

No stars nor moon were sparkling
or shedding any light,
as a night once eerily quiet
was painted red and white.

No more the Sun's reflection,
no more the proud display,
for now, the Golden Dragons
are gone. Now gone away.

I'm going to try
changing my ways.
Life is too short,
not enough days.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Why would x-ray rings appear around a gamma-ray burst? The surprising answer has little to do with the explosion itself but rather with light reflected off areas of dust-laden gas in our own Milky Way Galaxy. GRB 221009A was a tremendous explosion -- a very bright gamma-ray burst (GRB) that occurred far across the universe with radiation just arriving in our Solar System last week. Since GRBs can also emit copious amounts of x-rays, a bright flash of x-rays arrived nearly simultaneously with the gamma-radiation. In this case, the X-rays also bounced off regions high in dust right here in our Milky Way Galaxy, creating the unusual reflections. The greater the angle between reflecting Milky Way dust and the GRB, the greater the radius of the X-ray rings, and, typically, the longer it takes for these light-echoes to arrive.

Another evening
with words fraught,
"Do you love me?
or do you not?

How delicate must
her life now be,
when she says,
"You don't like me."

For life's assurances,
it is her crying word.
I say, "I love you,"
she knows I've heard.

I am sadness,
come with me
to the shore
of your sadness sea.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Across the center of this spiral galaxy is a bar. And at the center of this bar is smaller spiral. And at the center of that spiral is a supermassive black hole.  This all happens in the big, beautiful, barred spiral galaxy cataloged as NGC 1300, a galaxy that lies some 70 million light-years away toward the constellation of the river Eridanus. This Hubble Space Telescope composite view of the gorgeous island universe is one of the most detailed Hubble images ever made of a complete galaxy. NGC 1300 spans over 100,000 light-years and the Hubble image reveals striking details of the galaxy's dominant central bar and majestic spiral arms. How the giant bar formed, how it remains, and how it affects star formation remains an active topic of research.

Long the night,
in bed at 9.
Short the sleep,
when arising at 4.
Empty the feeling
when she's not in bed
but is sleeping, fully clothed,
on the sofa instead.
I'm know of the problem,
being very aware,
but sometimes I wish
I was now, elsewhere.

What is a thought?
What is a notion,
but an idea or
a strong emotion.

I know the words,
sound like a song.
I'll keep on writing,
as I move along.

Words can be pliant,
as some people you see.
Not speaking of you,
just thinking of me.

Anyone can be bent
and follow a sign,
but some become warped
becoming bigoted and blind.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A likely signals the birth of a new black hole, formed at the core of a collapsing star long ago in the distant universe. The extremely powerful blast is depicted in this animated gif constructed using data from the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Fermi captured the data at gamma-ray energies, detecting photons with over 100 million electron volts. In comparison visible light photons have energies of about 2 electron volts. A steady, high energy gamma-ray glow from the plane of our Milky Way galaxy runs diagonally through the 20 degree wide frame at the left, while the transient gamma-ray flash from GRB 221009A appears at center and then fades. One of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever detected GRB 221009A is also close as far as gamma-ray bursts go, but still lies about 2 billion light-years away. In low Earth orbit Fermi’s Large Area Telescope recorded gamma-ray photons from the burst for more than 10 hours as high-energy radiation from GRB 221009A swept over planet Earth last Sunday, October 9.

Up early, before dawn,
doing my best
to stifle a yawn.
With sleep filled eyes,
I read the news,
but to be honest,
I wish I could snooze.
Resting these eyes,
there's nothing to lose,
before I have a nap,
if that's what I choose.