Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.15

By ESO/Yuri Beletsky via Wikimedia Commons

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK

My laser is non-violent --

it does the stars 

no harm.

It 's not a blast, 

just helps us watch

the far galactic core.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"Quantifiable?"

Let there by light

the astronomer proclaims

and a laser beam

shoots from earth

to measure 

heaven's vastness.

Creator God

chuckles

as He watches

miniscule humans

attempt to quantify

the work of His

mighty hands.

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind)

Riding lights;

writing nights;

The sky falls down

in a gentle rain of heavenly sights.

We gather hands and dance

amidst the possibilities

of chance that somewhere,

perhaps unaware,

someone else is looking out as we look in,

our eyes both extended into the stars

even as our words get scribbled out,

near and far, letter by letter, 

line by line,

in this data-strewn world of virtual space.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast of Kevin's poem is here.

Protest

Scientists announced at audio lab
a connection leaving today.
They are using a laser beam to nab
electricity from the Milky Way.

They haven’t said, but I’m wondering why
we can’t use the power at home.
I hope that our stars stay bright in the sky
And the scientists stop laser roam.

© Linda Baie, 2013

The explanation of this photo, which was the Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year in 2010: "In mid-August 2010 ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, Chile. A group of astronomers were observing the centre of the Milky Way using the laser guide star facility at Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT).

Yepun’s laser beam crosses the southern sky and creates an artificial star at an altitude of 90 km high in the Earth's mesosphere. The Laser Guide Star (LGS) is part of the VLT’s adaptive optics system and is used as a reference to correct the blurring effect of the atmosphere on images. The colour of the laser is precisely tuned to energise a layer of sodium atoms found in one of the upper layers of the atmosphere — one can recognise the familiar colour of sodium street lamps in the colour of the laser. This layer of sodium atoms is thought to be a leftover from meteorites entering the Earth’s atmosphere. When excited by the light from the laser, the atoms start glowing, forming a small bright spot that can be used as an artificial reference star for the adaptive optics. Using this technique, astronomers can obtain sharper observations. For example, when looking towards the centre of our Milky Way, researchers can better monitor the galactic core, where a central supermassive black hole, surrounded by closely orbiting stars, is swallowing gas and dust."

We'll follow the same pattern of media this week as the last two: Monday: Picture of the Year, Tuesday: Featured Picture (new category), Wednesday: Video, Thursday: Famous Art, Friday: Audio, Saturday: Potluck, Sunday: Animation.

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.