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  #11  
Unread 05-14-2021, 01:07 PM
Roger Slater Roger Slater is offline
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PLUTO'S COMPLAINT

Pluto's my name.
I have a complaint.
I once was a planet
but now I ain't.

I thought that you loved me.
But then came a snub.
One day you informed me
I'm out of the club.

It came as a shock.
I thought we were fine.
I held up my end
as the smallest of nine.

I never made trouble.
I quietly spun.
I never ran late
as I circled the Sun.

I truly believed
that we all got along.
I thought that you loved me.
I guess I was wrong.
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  #12  
Unread 05-14-2021, 01:28 PM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
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Fliss, Your Mars poem engaged me! Seriously, I really enjoyed it.

Bob, your Pluto poem was fun to read.

This is not a new poem either (it appeared in The Martian Wave). But I'll work on a new planet poem soon.

The Mars Rovers

Rolling across the canyons and the plains,
inspecting clay and crater night and day,
robotically steered, they toil away
beneath red skies, past rocks with ruddy stains,
yet never weary or feel the slightest pains
in camera, wheel, or radio. Our May
is coming soon when we will dine and play
and work beyond Earth’s blizzards, droughts, and rains,
and say in homage as our starship leaves
this world for worlds that orbit distant suns,
toting our tales contained in a trillion sheaves,
further and further from Sol’s warming breath:
“Once ramblers, rattling on their dusty runs,
had searched for life so we could sidestep death.”

Last edited by Martin Elster; 05-14-2021 at 01:31 PM.
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  #13  
Unread 05-14-2021, 01:33 PM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
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Deleted poem because I've submitted it to a journal.

Last edited by Martin Elster; 07-21-2023 at 09:29 AM.
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  #14  
Unread 05-14-2021, 01:39 PM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
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This one could be about the hypothetical Planet Nine or perhaps an exoplanet.

Long-Distance Relationship

The planet takes nine hundred thousand years
to orbit the small orb that is her light.
Though practically free-floating, a loose bond
connects the couple. No refulgent spheres
ever visit. Never-ending night
engulfs that world of winter, far beyond
the mass of Jupiter—a giant’s giant.
In their long-distance dalliance, world and star
circumgyrate, aching to embrace.
Their tie is tenuous, a link reliant
on faith a sun won’t pass too near and jar
the planet into interstellar space.
Yet in the face of time’s eternal frost
they vow their love will never be star-crossed.

Last edited by Martin Elster; 05-14-2021 at 01:55 PM.
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  #15  
Unread 05-15-2021, 11:58 AM
F.F. Teague F.F. Teague is offline
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Thanks, Martin! I sent it to my older brother, who's a keen astronomer. He liked it too :-)

Roger/Bob, thanks for your poem. I think any poem that contains 'ain't' is a winner with me, lol. The tone is perfect for the snubbed Pluto, bless him.

Martin, thanks for three more additions. I'm really enjoying your contributions, and I feel I'm learning a lot too. Congrats on The Martian Wave. Yes, moons are fine; why not? I particularly like the 'One hundred gushing geysers' and rhymes such as 'Saturn' / 'pattern', 'caecilian' / 'vermilion'. And the romance of 'Long-Distance Relationship' is a delight, especially for 'star-crossed' at the end.

I used today's creative time to write a new poem for Met, but I shall try to fit in other planet poem soon :-)
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  #16  
Unread 05-15-2021, 01:29 PM
RCL's Avatar
RCL RCL is offline
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That Spin I’m In

Although I didn’t plan it
I’m stuck on this old planet.
The third rock from the sun,
Away from it I’m spun.
__________________
Ralph
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  #17  
Unread 05-16-2021, 08:55 AM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F.F. Teague View Post
Thanks for your suggestion re. line 8. What do you think of an en dash following 'scrap' and then 'I got rocks an' big ridges an' t'ings'? I'd like to keep 'I got rocks' as it reminds me of 'rocks that I got' (J-Lo).
Yup, that works perfectly! You got to keep "got," as it enhances the vernacular. The em dash is what I would have suggested, too. You're really good at emulating dialects. I wish I could do that.
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  #18  
Unread 05-16-2021, 11:49 AM
F.F. Teague F.F. Teague is offline
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Thanks, Martin! I've made that change. I like doing different dialects; I think Dizzee Rascal would work for Merc.

Ralph, great to have you on board. I like 'plan it' and 'planet', lol.

I finished a big work project earlier today, leaving a bit of time to write something for Jupiter. I think it might be a song, cha-cha-CHING. Voice: jovial elderly male.


World of Old Jove

Do you live on a planet that's bringing you down
00with its politics, power-play, war?
Do you frequently find that you're wearing a frown
00and, quite frankly, you're sick to your core?
Well, just send for a spaceship and shimmy along
00to the wonderful world of Old Jove,
with a Ho! ho-ho-ho and a bingetty-bong!
00let's get gassily into the groove.

You'll be glad, beyond glad, that you shipped to my space;
00you'll have laughter and love without pills –
all you need's a sharp spacesuit to keep with the pace
00of the storms and the heat and the chills;
so come on! board that spaceship and shimmy along
00to the wonderful world of Old Jove,
with a Ho! ho-ho-ho and a bingetty-bong!
00let's get gassily into the groove.

Last edited by F.F. Teague; 05-16-2021 at 11:50 AM. Reason: Punctuation :-]
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  #19  
Unread 05-16-2021, 01:43 PM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
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Ceres

Once I was a planet,
then an asteroid;
I’m now a dwarf world hurtling
across the frosty void.

Named after the grain goddess
of Rome, I roam around
the sun, yet I’m way dimmer
that Vesta, so you’re bound

to miss me. I’m much smaller
than Pluto or your moon;
yet, though I’m rather tiny,
it’s me who calls the tune

amid the motley muddle
of dust and rocks. I’m scrawny
compared to the gas giant
who’s kisser is as tawny

as the feathers of a frogmouth.
His gleam surpasses Sirius’.
Just like that star’s companion,
I’m mightily mysterious—

for I’m the only boulder
in all celestial rubble
who talks. And I am helpful.
If your spaceship is in trouble,

you can always make a landing
upon my icy hide
or hide inside a hollow.
You’ll be quite satisfied

with the view from my old body
(which exhales water vapor
when close to Sol’s refulgence).
We’ll frolic and we’ll caper

along this belt of wreckage.
We’ll frisk and prance and rollick
in a zone of lonely stones,
outcast and melancholic.

Then you may wet your whistle
on the water percolating
from beneath Occator crater.
Too salty? Not so sating?

It’s all I’ve got to offer.
I’m just an asteroid
(or maybe a dwarf planet)
tumbling through the void.

Last edited by Martin Elster; 05-16-2021 at 04:00 PM.
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  #20  
Unread 05-16-2021, 01:57 PM
Martin Elster Martin Elster is offline
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I love your Jupiter, Fliss. Of course, no astronaut could possibly survive Old Jove's magnetic field, which is ten times stronger than Earth's!

Speaking of wars, did you know (yes, it's true) that we have far fewer wars, famine, and plagues than in the whole history of homo sapiens? (Whatever plague comes now, it's not because we have sinned and the gods are punishing us but, because we now know what causes plagues, we can manage them. So all plagues nowadays are due to human stupidity, including the current one.) But are we happier than stone-age (actually wood-age) people? Maybe not.
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