~ my image & poem were inspired by John McKaveney’s wonderful photo above here of the Kulmhotel Gornergrat Observatory ~
Below here are 3 images John photographed through his telescope:
ORION ——————— MOON —————– ORION NEBULA
——–<§>——–
MY IMAGE & POEM
Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Have You Seen the Stars” by: rob kistner © 4/2/24
Often I dreamt as a young boy
searching the stars again and again
with my red buck rogers telescope
that I would travel there as a man
travel the stars and the planets
that someday I’b be a real spaceman
exploring these amazing new worlds
following my otherworldly life plan
other success took me as a young man
running in circles became my race
consumed by overwhelming stress
caught in a chaotic crazy pace
the years spun by wild as a top
outer space not in the chase
life layered its sad patina
etched deeply in my face
suddenly no longer young
frenetic was my middle name
the triumphs and the tragedies
my space dreams a guttering flame
I’ve borrowed bought and sold
played life wild — never tame
but I leveraged my rocketship
just to play this fleeting game
Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Even in the Smallest Petal”
by: rob kistner © 4/2/24
an old man with a flower — sits on a bench
marveling at the petals — feeling drained
the dream faded of a would-be spaceman
mysteries of the universe — unexplained
his body bent by the weight of worry
he reflects in the stars — feels pained
wondering if everything he let get lost
was really worth what it was he gained
*
rob kistner © 2024
Poetry at: dVerse
Poetry at: NaPoWriMo 2024 — Day 2
Rob: I LOVE the poem BUT I HAVE to delete it from Mr. Linky. The prompt is to use one or more of the photos provided by John McKaveney….he took them from/with his amazing telescope. You’ve created your own illustrations – which are great – BUT that’s not what the prompt is. The prompt is TOTALLY surrounding JOhn’s photos. So please repost, and use one of John’s photos in your post. So sorry to delete this….but I know John will be looking at dVerse this evening to see what folks have done with his photos….and the posts are great. So again, sorry to have to delete. And PLEASE respost the poem using one or more of John’s photos as given in the prompt!
Lill
OK
OK … reworked and reposted… 😉
Thank you, Rob! I tried to delete my comment above, now that you’ve reworked it. Somehow it’s not letting me. If you can delete my comment on your site, and this one, please feel free to do so.
Both deleted Lil… 😉
I had the same dream when I was a child. I think in the end, this would be the scenario : memories of that would-be spaceman
mysteries of the universe unexplained
Someday I will travel the universes Grace, as sentient energy! 🙂
“Would-be spaceman” or no, what poetry, what worlds you create for us through your words, weaving and spinning us round in swirls of thought and emotion! Love your take on the prompt, Rob.
Thank you Dora, very much. My mind has been running 100MPH since the first day I was aware I was thinking. My imagination drives my life. It has taken me to some high highs, and some dark lows — but it’s never been boring… :>
I do remember having dreams, and at some point I actually pondered applying to an astronaut program when the first Swedish candidates were drafted. A friend at university was one of the two succesful candidates but in the end she didn’t make it either…. but at that time I was to much of a coward to apply so it wasn’t really realistic.
I wanted to go to space intently Björn, from the very first time I read a Flash Gordon comic book as a very, very, very young child. It was exactly the escape I was looking for. It was my intention to pursue being an astronaut when I was younger, but then a number of things in real life got in the way, kept getting in the way, and I never got there. It is an extremely deep regret that I harbor. I let my writing, my art, my song lyrics, my singing, and my performing, take me out there to another world. So in a way, I’ve made the space trip many number of times. Got invited to do a high school summer trip, in 1964, to visit NASA headquarters while in Washington DC! There was a spacecraft that traveled to the moon in the lobby. I was blown away! My friends and I road tripped on our motorcycles, down to Camp Kennedy, Florida in 1969 to watch Apollo 11 blastoff, taking Niel Armstrong and his crew to the moon. Armstrong was from Ohio, and we were all from Ohio, so we felt some sort of kinship. It was breathtaking to watch that rocket takeoff..
Firstly, thanks so much for the blast of Crosby and Kantner – I love that song! And thank you for taking me on the journey from boyhood to the bench of memories. These lines stood out:
‘life layered its sad patina
etched deeply in my face’.
You are most welcome Kim. I too love that by Kantner and Crosby. I love everything that has to do with science-fiction and alternate possibilities. It’s where I live half of my life and it’s from that pool that I draw all of my imagination, my singing performing writing and art. So no matter how shitty things are in the quote “real world” — my world of imagination and creativity keeps me fulfilled and entertained. I also greatly appreciate it when someone else is able to derive a bit of joy from it, so thank you my friend.
Wonderful poeming, my friend. Reflective as the night sky. We were born to wonder about the heavens. The mysterious unknown so vast. I do believe in the end we will transcend into that space.
I have always been a dreamer. As, a child I would swing lifting higher and higher trying to touch the sky with my feet. Singing as loud as I could, as if, the heavens would hear me and let me in. Ha
Thank you so much , I always appreciate your visits. You and I had very similar swinging techniques as a child. I love to swing up into the sky towards the stars, because I loved to swing at night. I also used to blast off from the swing seat by jumping out forward, landing, balanced on my feet when I got to the highest arc of the swing. That was probably crazy but I never got hurt. 🙂
I’m back at the pub this morning….fresh eyes opened wider by a cup of strong coffee and reading this, Rob. The image you created is clearly inspired by John’s photo of the hotel (which I can’t believe is a hotel!!! What a glorious place to spend a night or two although I think the point would be to stay awake at night and sleep during they day if staying here!). Ah yes….remembering our youth and the dreams we had. Your words here tell that so very well. The 4th and 6th stanzas are, for me, particularly visceral….you end the poem as an old man, body bent, seemingly exhausted and wondering still. This for me, was a study in aging. Just a beautiful write, Rob. I do think, there is some glory, some sense of accomplishment in aging….even if we’ve not achieved the dreams of our youth. There’s an ability to appreciate…and ability to feel more because we have the time to do so. Even in frailty or illness or grief, there’s the privilege of a past perspective. Ah, you have me thinking here. Obviously, I enjoyed your poem very much! You have an excellent way with words, my friend.
I always appreciate your kindness Lil, and I especially appreciate the fact that you are able to read my heart and spirit, within my words. To invest yourself enough to probe beyond the surface, and find what is the depth of the meaning, that I am expressing — even shen I don’t always immediately realize what that is, in the moments of the expression. Almost all of my writing is in the moment, stream of conscience. I like to go then go back and read my words a number of times, changing those time to time, editing in other words to expand and define. I always learn more about myself in the rereading, and in the editing. It is one of my favorite aspects of writing. No poem, really nothing I’ve ever written, lyrics for songs, stories, nothing is ever complete. I exercise the author’s right to change it, and as I change it, I see deeper into myself. Dear Lil, I appreciate your kindness, and I feel your friendship in the gentle serious way you express yourself. You are real, so I am most grateful. If we lived close, we would be visiting friends. But I genuinely embrace our cyber-friendship.
Beautifully written, Rob. So many interesting questions of life and its meaning. Gains and losses are not as important as the meaning of the journey to get to where we are today.
Thank you Dwight and absolutely yes it is the journey and embracing it in a healthy helpful way.
On this day I proclaim you the official “dVerse-Spaceman!” I like the surrealistic art and of course the poem you gifted us.
I appreciate your proclamation Helen. As a young adopted child, and growing up in a very bizarre adoptive family (loved my adoptive father Bob, and he me) but the things were not so pleasant with my adoptive mother, nor her disruptive, paranoid-schizophrenic mother — who lived with us out of the incredible kindness and suffering patience of my dad, Bob — who was mercilessly verbally abused by that crazy old woman. As a child, I often fantasized that I was from another planet, placed here on earth, to figure out, and then carry out a special mission — and then someday I would be taken back home… wherever home was. Certainly it was a child’s escape fantasy, but I loved it and embraced it very seriously — although it did make me unusual, until I learned how to use it to my great advantage. It was one of the biggest ways I used to escape, what was in my young mind, an unbearable situation for me. I loved the science-fiction movies from the day I first understood what a movie was — still do, and not so much as fiction, but as possibilities. I continue to absorb them in as part of the fiber of my being. I may not be going back into outer space, but it certainly helped me develop an extremely rich, and very deep and broad imagination. So a difficult childhood brought me the deep love of an adoptive father, and a huge imagination. It took me a while to learn to control it, so it didn’t get me in trouble, but once I did… it was to infinity and beyond. I became wholly fascinated with expressing my imagination through storytelling, writing, performing, singing, writing songs, creating art… any creative outlet attracted me — so I have come to love my “special damage”, provided to me by one very tumultuous childhood. Yes, I am a spaceman my friend… 🙂
Great reflection, Rob! The beauty of all this is that our minds can take us where no rocket or vessel can. The fact that we take can take time to reflect on the beauty of the universe, or even simply perceive it, is astounding. Mankind may, or may not, physically reach some of these places, but our minds can take us to where no astronaut will tread. I believe that some day, when our lives are finished, we will experience the universe in a whole new way, and finally experience the true wonders that are waiting for us.
Thank you John for your kind words. I obviously don’t know what truly is going to await me after my death, I am 77 with congestive heart failure and serious diabetes, as well as lesions in the white matters of my brain — so my end is not far off — but I do not fear it. My perception and therefore you can call it my belief, is that we human creatures are energy and I believe scientifically that energy can neither be created or destroyed… so in my way I agree with you. I think we will eventually be able to move where we want to within the universes (plural) … more as energy moving. The typical religious perceptions of life after death have never hold much sway with me. They’re a bit juvenile. I think what’s coming is far more fantastic than what these religious visions are. So I’m sure I will eventually make it throughout the universes. It’s just it will be as energy. And I’m hoping it will be as sentient energy, but for me that is mot essential. BTM — I love your photos John, they were very inspiring. Thank you for making them available to us here at dVerse.
You’re welcome, Rob! Keep on pushing – you never know what’s around the corner. Clear skies and smooth sailing!!
Thank you John, I do love your photography my friend… 🙂
Rob, I thought your digital art was fleshing out one of John’s pics, and I do think you took it as a model. Gorgeous fleshing out of the image with your imagination. In your poem, you capture so many emotions as your stanzas lead us through your life. How many can say that they had dreams that big? Do you believe in reincarnation? Maybe your next go-round, you’ll realize your spaceman dream <3
Thank you Lisa. I firmly believe no one’s life energy ends, even after death. I also believe it continues to be sentient. But does it retain our particular individual personality, or awareness of same — I, like everyone, can’t be certain.
Rob, what wonderful poetry! Amazing! And I love Paul Kantner.
Thank you Punam… 🙂
Reflecting in the stars. I am right there with you. I sometimes experience remorse for the things I haven’t done or poor decisions I made. In retrospect even though “years spun by wild as a top”, I couldn’t change anything, could I? I would have missed out on much I hold dear.
We do our best Melissa, or sometimes our less than best — but we always do what we feel we must… and let time be the judge.