written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Saturday 19 January 2019

Cloud Nurseries

I'm hitting you with the briefest of  cloud  blogs this overcast Saturday morning, the shortest piece I've posted since the time I didn't know what to say about dolls! The temptation was to write nothing at all (always a sound idea when you think you don't have anything remotely interesting to say); but then a nagging sense of duty combined with the Protestant work ethic bestirred me to put together prose, picture and poem - and the picture is possibly the best of the three (and certainly more eloquent than a thousand words).

Of all the varieties of cloud I could have written about, I'm going for the Magellanic Clouds, for out of such clouds future stars are born. There are two Magellanic Clouds, the Large (LMC) and the Small (SMC). Both are irregularly-shaped gas-rich clusters of matter orbiting around our own Milky Way, galaxies as satellites of a galaxy - how fascinating is that? They are most easily visible from the southern hemisphere and have featured in the folklore of Africa, Asia and the antipodes for thousands of years.

I like to think of the Magellanic Clouds as nurseries in which new worlds are being gestated - or more accurately coalescing. As clusters, they are breath-takingly beautiful - the image below of NGC-1783 (a sub-section of the Large Magellanic Cloud) can only convey an inferior idea of their true majesty. The LMC spawned the largest supernova of recent times.


I've just imported that image as the 'wallpaper' on my laptop. The bigger it is the more amazing it looks. (Feel free to snag it.)

As a poem to accompany this brief space blog (I know, it seems to have been a recurrent theme of late), I offer you Radio Big Bang It's still a work-in-progress but I'm quite taken with the idea. Anyway, I hope you like it...

Radio Big Bang
Don't mess with that dial, star-child.
You've locked on to Radio Big Bang
pulsing on the back-beat of the universe.

DJ Sky High (aka the Detonator)
is coming at you through the ether
from Deepest Space
to grace your speculating hours,
letting you know you are not alone.

Tuned-in girls and boys
in the galaxy next door
are shaking their pods
and bouncing the floor
in time to the station's roaring beat,

so stay on this frequency and groove
with some fundamental moves.
Throw your shapes, embrace the wave
and enjoy the elation
of being at one with creation,
not just raving, resounding.


We are stardust. Thanks for reading, S ;-)

26 comments:

Boz said...

Yeah, like that. Another good'un.

Steve Rowland said...

Thanks Boz. I've been trying to keep the whole thing a bit lighter in recent weeks, after a string of Nazi atrocity, eco-disaster and space suicide poems late last year :-D

Anonymous said...

Worth the effort. I absolutely love the new poem.

CI66Y said...

I agree with comments above, the new poem is a fine thing Steve with some sparkling lines: pulsing on the back-beat of the universe.... to grace your speculating hours...not just raving, resounding. Top drawer, that.

Anonymous said...

Great idea beautifully expressed. It did it for me.

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of listening to the radio under the bedclothes as a teenager. Presumably that's a common experience? I really like the verve of your poem.

The Existentialist said...

...and the beat goes on :-)

Tom Shaw said...

For someone who didn't have anything to say...ha ha ha - brilliant, Steve!

Anonymous said...

At your invitation I have saved the image. It's beautiful. I really like the latest poem and is that a sly reference to Stevie Smith's 'Not waving but drowning' at the end or am I just being presumptuous?

Anonymous said...

Splendid.

Unknown said...

Well done Steve, I love the 'grace your speculating hours' and your ending was excellent.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is so cool!

Rochelle said...

Another great blog Steve. You state that Radio Big Bang is a work in progress but it reads like the finished article to me. I love it.

Anonymous said...

Perfect pulsating poetry.

Anonymous said...

Terrific poem. Well done.

Deke Hughes said...

Congrats Steve. Your Big Bang Radio thing is a neat conceit my friend.

Unknown said...

Like it - riding the wave of creation ... and BFC have just gone 2 up - fancy that?

Heather said...

Lovely.

MoonGoddess said...

What a great poem! Big Bang v Continuous Creation! Love the way you tie out there space and on earth radio together. So optimistic as well.

Matt West said...

You rock buddy!

Anonymous said...

Well done Steve. Another great poem. I know there's absolutely no connection but it made me think of Big Audio Dynamite.

Anonymous said...

All power to your protestant work ethic. Keep the blogs coming Steve. I really look forward to reading your musings and poems. This latest is bang on!

Anonymous said...

The poem reads very well - you've really caught the vibe there.

Anonymous said...

Fabulous.

Anonymous said...

Very good Steve.

Tyger Barnett said...

I love the analogy - great poetry.