soundless vacuum
molten cores
mingled gasses
hurtling shards
black holes
plasma rain
liquid lightning
revolving orbs
in evolving orbit
with beings aboard
attractions — repulsions
magnetized masses
in precarious fragility
inconceivable
ever expanding
frozen dance of chaos
on the tentative edge
of balance
rob kistner © 2020
“Liquid Lighting” — A bit of poetic license, drawn from the fact that recent studies indicate that ice, hail, and semi-frozen water drops known as graupel are essential to the creation of lightning anywhere in the universe such conditions exist
Cosmology is beautiful. Your assessment of current status at the end is a mournful consideration, Rob 🙁
Cosmology is fascinating, overwhelming, and quite beautiful Lisa. But in embracing the essence of cosmology, one must accept the truth of my final verse. Our universe, and the many others, experience continuous destruction and construction, constantly seeking and adjusting to maintain the balance — which is possible only with the chaos.
Oops -a in first sentence.
🙂
Very beautiful.
Thank you Lucy… 🙂 I felt the need yo embrace humility today.
you wording and spacing feel like an expanding universe, yet your last stanza is a timely reminder!
Existence is always at the edge Kate, and we are best not to take it for granted.
I could feel the pull – in all directions simultaneously – in this one Rob. Admirable work.
I had to pause briefly at “liquid lightening” to wonder: lightning?
Either way, cool stanza, very cool poem.
Thank you Ron. Also appreciate the catch my spell check fumbled. “Liquid Lightning” — A bit of poetic license, drawn from the fact that recent studies indicate that ice, hail, and semi-frozen water drops known as graupel are essential to the creation of lightning anywhere in the universe such conditions exist.
I was up there spinning with your words. I wish i had written this poem. Bravo
Happy you dropped by to read mine
Much?love
Thank you Gillena… 🙂
“…planets spinnin’ through space
put a smile upon your face
welcome to the human race…
…isn’t it a lovely ride…”
> James Taylor <
A tentative balance, for sure…as all balance is. It’s good to realize we are a small part of a greater whole. Nicely done.
Thank you De. I think perhaps the tentative balance of the universe is often overlooked by some eho think life, our planet, and the universe is indestructible — and so thinking, are fucking it up big time! JMHO. 🙂
You snagged me at the “frozen dance of chaos”. You’ve accomplished what I always want to do with the quadrille, creating brevity and significance in short tercets. Terrific adjunct to COSMOS on TV.
Thanks brother! Just wanted to see if I could describe the universe in 44 words. I also wasfeeling the need to embrace humility. Meditating on the universe does that for me.
A nice waltz with the universe, elegant and delicate, wonderful writing!
Thank you Dora…:)
This is a great poem Rob. I love the images of the universe that you share here. We are all spinning and sailing on and on. I liked this …
revolving orbs
in evolving orbit
with beings aboard
We are here for the ride,…………….
Thank you Dwight… 🙂
“…planets spinnin’ through space
put a smile upon your face
welcome to the human race…
…isn’t it a lovely ride…”
> James Taylor <
“revolving orbs, in evolving orbit, with beings aboard”…it’s a recipe for disaster, haha! To get deep, I do believe in the esoteric phrase ‘order out of chaos’ but perhaps there is always a balance to things in their due time. Kind of like karma. Great read!
There is no order in the universe Tricia, because it is always in flu . But from the chaos of this scale and magnitude, comes either an evolving balance, or an end. We are still here, but maybe the end simply hasn’t reached us yet. It all boggles the finite mind.
The pace of your list quadrille makes me feel like I’m falling through space, Rob!
I was, in 44 words Kim, trying to touch the essence of the vastness of space, and how fragile we as human beings truly are. How even unbelievable it is that human life even exists within our solar system, within this massive universe. My hope was to bring about an inkling of awe, and a sense of the privilege we enjoy, and the deep responsibility we have as our part of this human species, to respect this almost inconceivable privilege — by being thankful, and by being careful with each other, and with this amazing planet on which we are travelers. I was hoping with this glimpse of awe, to stir just a small sense of humility and gratitude — the smallest seeds of peace and cooperation, to lessen the deadly arrogance and destructive entitlement we are given to exhibit. To neither dangerous attitude do we have any right, given our true insignificance in the whole of this universe. It’s just taken 171 words to even express what I was actually attempting to do in 44.
I like the astronomical imagery here and the variations of words carefully woven to form a cosmic whole!
Thank you Ingrid. If you look at my response here to Kim, you will get an idea of what my vision was for this. Perhaps way too ambitious, but there it is… 🙂
Really enjoyed this one!
“revolving orbs
in evolving orbit
with beings aboard”
And those are the critical words and realization, right? How do we keep this earth tilted in the correct way, spinning gloriously rather than killing that thing that supports us?
Absolutely Lillian! The other question I afforded with this verse — in all this universe, and the likely others, are we the only orb with brings aboard? hmmm… 🙂
I assume that the cosmos is close to its end… most likely only a few billion years remain until it reaches us.
Hope your timeframe is correct Bjorn. It is onrushing, though I think we’ll miss it… 😉
I like the immensity of this one. The universe is beyond my comprehension.
Glad you like this Jane.
Love ‘frozen dance of chaos’. I’m a bit partial to the word chaos-lol.
Thank you Linda, and I like chaos a lot. I also like the word flux! Chaos is all of life and existence. It only appears orderly at times, and frequently, only from particular perspectives.
I could feel the rushing and the chaos–the mystery of the universe is awe-inspiring. But that last stanza really sums it up–that tentative balance!
I sure as hell hope we keep the balance Merril, the alternative would be such a shame.
The perfect subject for this prompt and your words resonate beautifully.
Thank you Kerfe… 🙂
You captured much in these wonderful terse tidbits. The universe and especially our world is such a phenomenal gift, an amazing existence. As far as preserving it and evolving to our human potential, I think we definitely dropped the ball.
Thank you Mish… 🙂 I want to think we are just fumbling the ball, that we might still grasp and run with it — at least I hope so.