Welcome to Poetry Friday. I’m the host this first Friday in July. I hope all of you are well and enjoying summer, in spite of all that’s going on. We must make sure to VOTE this November.
For some reason, my computer won’t allow me to comment on some posts. I will continue to try, but if you don’t see a comment from me, it doesn’t mean I’m not reading and learning from Poetry Friday posts.
I recently bought the book: BILL BRYSON: *A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, published in 2003.
Reading science never fails to inspire a poem, and this book did. I read in the first few pages about supernovae and learned in laywoman’s terms what they are. Here’s a definition from Bryson’s book:
“Subernovae occur when a giant star, one much bigger than our own Sun, collapses and then spectacularly explodes, releasing in an instant the energy of a hundred billion suns, burning for a time brighter than all the stars in its galaxy.” Star gazer and minister Robert Evans from Australia, who carefully searched for and discovered newly exploding supernovae from his back yard, stated that a supernova is “like a trillion hydrogen bombs going off at once.”
Of course, supernovoe are tremendously far away, so we see only specks of light.
How did he know he had found a newly exploded star? It seems so simple:
Unlike the light from older stars, light from a newly exploded star or supernova “occupies a point of space that wasn’t filled before.”
That’s it. New light in a space that wasn’t filled before. That’s the evidence he looked for. And he apparently was good at finding supernovae with his backyard telescope.
This YouTube video tells about Reverend Robert Evans, amateur astronomer:
So this week, as I sat on my porch behind the wall of leaves that surrounds it, this poem came to me.
WHAT IS OUT THERE? For Robert Evans, amateur astronomer. From my leafy porch, dogs bark, children yell, birds chirp, all invisible. Still, I know they exist and I invent a conversation between unseen sparrows, guess the game being played, from the thud of a ball, picture the size of a dog from a bark, like Mr. Evans, in his yard, in Australia, imagining a supernova, from remnants of sudden distant light, that filled a vacuum between familiar stars. © Janice Scully (draft)
I’ll be away on Poetry Friday, but will catch up and hopefully comment on all the posts later in the weekend. Thank you all for stopping by. I appreciate every visitor.
Janice
Hello! And, thank you for hosting this week. I hope you are off doing something fun. I promise to VOTE this November. The unraveling we are witnessing is scary.
I love that you wrote about supernovoa! Hooray for star information on Poetry Friday. “Sudden distant light” is such a great phrase. Thank you!
I love the backstory for your poem and how you connected it to the everyday things in your world. So well done! Thanks so much for hosting this week!
I love the connections you’ve made between the story about the backyard astronomer & your own backyard, Janice. It’s lovely! Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for hosting this week. I hope you enjoy your time away. First of all, your poem was amazing. I did not know the spelling of the plural for supernova. Secondly, I adore the simplicity of your analogy between outdoor sounds and supernova sightings.
Beautiful poem Janice, I also like the analogy you made between the happenings from your porch and Robert Evans light connected Supernova—How fascinating these discoveries are, thanks for sharing all and for hosting!
Janice, your SuperNovae information, video, and poem are a great combination. “Reading science never fails to inspire a poem.” I always like what you offer. Thank you for hosting Poetry Friday.
Your post is a ‘blast’, Janice! *insert groan here*
Thanks for hosting! 🙂
Have you gone to the moon? Your bright star ideas about what’s beyond the yard feel like a launch!
Appreciations for hosting this first Friday of July, for leading me to the Aussie astronomer, the correct plural of supernova, which I can’t recall reading before & all this goodness. You are a travel agent in poetry, Janice.
Have you gone to the moon?
Your bright star ideas about what’s beyond the yard feel like a launch!
Appreciations for hosting this first Friday of July, for leading me to the Aussie astronomer, the correct plural of supernova, which I can’t recall reading before & all this goodness. You are a travel agent in poetry, Janice.
Love me some Bill Bryson! I learn lots every time I read his books. Now this, a new person to admire: Reverend Robert Evans, amateur astronomer, who looked for light where there had previously been none…in a star-filled sky. WOW!
I love how you took his awesomeness and brought it down to earth on your back porch. Well done, and thank for hosting us!
Thanks for hosting, Janice! I like the analogy you make to the things you hear and wonder about in your own back yard. Stars are so fascinating! Recent news makes it feel like part of our own world is exploding now. Let’s hope it will bring new light.
Lovely poem, Janice – it’s always intriguing to try to connect the vastness of the cosmos with our own, recognizable environment. I’ve always been fascinated by astronomy and it’s mind boggling to consider that the light we see from a star or supernova actually originated millions of years ago, get we are only just seeing it now because it takes that long for the light to reach us. Fascinating!
Janice, I like how you play with what is invisible to the naked eye, whether hidden beyond a wall of leaves or a boundless stretch of universe. We do well to notice what wasn’t there before! Thanks for hosting and travel safe.
I love your poem, Janice. Saving it! Thanks for hosting.
Thanks for hosting, Janice! I love astronomy! What a cool find for Mr. Evans. It does inspire one, doesn’t it?! I am looking forward to seeing the milky way on our September trip to Acadia National Park in Maine! You’ll be sure to hear about it in my blog if I do!
There is so much to think about with your post and poem. I love the idea of new light where there was none before and the challenge to keep observing closely so we don’t miss it.
This is a great post, Janice, and exactly what I needed to hear today. I am clinging to the idea of light existing where there was none before. Powerful literally and metaphorically.
Thank you for hosting this week, Janice! I love how you’ve woven your thoughts and experience together with the amazing discoveries of Reverend Evans. Well done!
Your post made me think about vacuums between familiar stars (or other familiar things)-which vacuums to appreciate, and which ones to try to fill with something else. Thanks, Janice!