Tag: The Universe

Poetry Swap: Visitors from Other Worlds

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week, hosted by Romona, at https://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com. Thank you for hosting, Romona!

What is Poetry Friday? Find out at https://www.nowaterriver.com/what-is-poetry-friday/

Previously I posted concerning questions about the universe at https://janicescully.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4858&action=edit

I shared this Golden Shovel poem entitled Einstein’s Theory of Relativity:

Einstein's Theory of Relativity

 ". . . we are luminous beings made of energy." (Quote from "Frequently asked Questions about the Universe," by Jorge Cham & Daniel Whiteson.


Because of Einstein, we
find out that we aren’t what we think we are.
Can you sense the luminous
forces that bind molecules inside Human beings
together? Our arms and legs seem made
to appear solid, but we are simply sculpted of 
pure energy. 

© Janice Scully 2023

In my recent poetry swap gift, Tabatha responded to my poem, imagining what the visitors from other worlds might look like, how energy might “shape itself” in the alien world. It’s a wonderful poem, and we all might wonder if life on other planets are like us or “a new formulation, unrecognizable to us.” 

VISITORS FROM OTHER WORLDS
by Tabatha Yeatts
 
They could be anything, couldn't they?
The possibility of cosmic life circles us like a comet,
leaves a trail of stardust we fall asleep beneath, 
dreaming of creatures whose ship descends in our midst 
like a ladder being lowered from the galactic attic.
 
They could be anything, couldn't they?
We know this because we see what's here–
long-necked, long-limbed spotted leaf-eaters,
underwater jelly dancers, nighttime light darters,
zipping sword beaks, round-tailed waterslappers.
Even wolves come in a thousand unlikely variants,
including ones we can carry with us like a yapping moon.
 
Energy shapes itself in startling ways– asserts itself– 
is the recipe, the chef, and the waiting mouth.
What has it cooked up in other watery, windy worlds?
What life-forms are brewing, sloshing out of their primordial sea?
Are they primate-shaped, mammalian? Like us at all? 
Or perhaps they are a new formulation, unrecognizable to us,
which treasures the atmosphere, the elements, the star-span
that cups the flame of their existence, 
keeping it from blowing out.

Her poem arrived with a quote from Thoreau about gratitude that begins, “I am grateful for what I am and have.” I know I am grateful to Tabatha and the Poetry Friday community.

How shall I end this post? I’ll end with a haiku inspired about swimming and especially floating in a lake or a pool. For a few minutes I can make all external sounds go away and all is silent. 

I float, ears submerged.
Swaying tree tops are silent.
Is it them breathing?

©Janice Scully 2023

I wonder if some aliens have ears and might similarly enjoy floating?

Have a wonderful weekend.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE UNIVERSE

Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week we are hosted by the wonderfully talented poet and photographer, Buffy Silverman, Here. Please stop by and find out what she’s up to this week.

What is Poetry Friday? Find out HERE.

This week, I’m up to something captivating, at least to me: The Universe!

I’ve had many of my unanswered questions answered, at least partly, and I also have a whole host of new questions since reading FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE UNIVERSE, written by robotics scientist, Jorge Cham and physicist Daniel Whiteson. Scientists are sometimes hard to understand, but Cham and Whiteson write with wonderful clarity not to mention wonderful humor. This would be a fun read for high school kids and a must read, in my opinion, for all adults. It is perspective changing:

If you think our solar system is big and we humans are very important, you’ll change those notions fast. If you think the current conversations among some in America is about urgent things, you come to understand see how small many ideas about humanity and our entire culture have become.

Just saying.

The book covers a great deal. For example, it’s given me an appreciation for just how humongous the universe might be and also how far away other possible civilizations might be. How likely is life in other parts of the universe? Have they already been here? Will they want to meet us or not so much?

In this book you’ll find discussions about the possibility of an after life and how that might work. You might come to understand that we are all made up of the same matter, (protons, neutrons, electrons, etc) but our particles are just simply arranged differently. Could this arrangement of a person’s particles be preserved after death and the essence of “You” be transported somewhere else?

Other highlights? Definitely the chapter on Einstein’s relativity equation: Energy is equal to Mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. E=mc2.

What is mass really? I learned to think about things such as a heavy rock differently. I came to understand that a rock’s weight is not due to the sum of all it’s particles, but the ENERGY holding them all together. In fact, we weigh what we weigh because of the bonds holding all of our particles together!

The chair in the corner of your office weighs what it weighs because of energy that binds it’s particles, (such as quarks and electrons) together:

So, if you sit in this chair, you will be held up by energy, (unless of course there is a nail missing or a screw loose.)

Mass is almost entirely Energy. Here is a Golden Shovel poem I wrote from a short quote from the book. 

Einstein's Theory of relativity

 ". . . we are luminous beings made of energy." (From Frequently asked Questions about the Universe, by Jorge Cham & Daniel Whiteson.


Because of Einstein, we
find out that we aren’t what we think we are.
Can you sense the luminous
forces that bind molecules inside Human beings
together? Our arms and legs seem made
to appear solid, but we are simply sculpted of 
pure energy. 

© Janice Scully 2023

This book has been a joy to read! I am about to re-read it because it’s the kind of knowledge I want to remember . . . and maybe because the bonds between my particles aren’t as strong as they used to be? I wonder. Who knows? Maybe they grow stronger after age 30.

Have a great weekend!