The Joy of Science - Poems of science and science fiction

[kennyc]

.


The Joy of Science is my first full collection of science, science fiction and speculative poetry.
It contains 44 poems ranging from serious poetic presentations of science to irreverent and humorous looks at science fiction and ourselves. Filled with both awe-inspiring visions and fun. Available now at Amazon.com:

US Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JUPRDYW
UK Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JUPRDYW



A few samples:

"Time Flies"

Those nasty little beggars
always messing around.

Leaving their fly-speck vomit
all over time and space.

Moving the Archduke’s assassination
or messing with Jesus’ birth.

We of course never know
cause time itself corrects.

Things are always as they were
except the barfly nose.



"A Small Step"

After the fall and
hip replacement surgery
Anna struggled just
to get out of bed.

Weeks of rehab,
effort, and fighting
pain brought her
to this thought.

Hell it was easy for Neil
he had a billion dollar suit,
NASA, and the entire
world behind him.


"It’s a Miracle"

You peer into the eyepiece,
blink and adjust, then you see it,
a smear of bluish light that
left its home 2000 centuries
before Christ.

As your eyes adjust you see
the blue-white glow at the center
of a pinwheel and bright specks
of reds, yellows and blues
all twirling about.

This ancient light that
has traveled so long, so far
strikes your retina and perishes
in order to signal your brain
of the miracle you behold.

[kennyc]

Given the current tensions between U.S. and Russia this one could be prophetic.



Legacy


After three decades of faithful service
it fell from the sky, the most brilliant
shooting star ever created by man.

Visible in the midday sun
glowing, burning, flaring gloriously
above the Pacific ocean.

Who could forget Canadian Commander
Chris Hadfield with his Larrivee guitar
singing David Bowie’s Space Oddity.

Or the near drowning in space
of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano as the helmet
of his thirty-five-year-old suit filled with water.

As this dying star crosses the sky we are
compelled to remember the glowing embers and ashes
of Columbia that fell on the Lone Star State.

And that silent horrific fireball
of convoluted smoke trails
Challenger left above Florida.

We envision brilliant images of Earth at night,
vast blue oceans, deadly cyclones
and a sunrise every ninety minutes.

We acknowledge all that has been accomplished
through cooperation, effort, and sacrifice
by this International Station in Space

and we recognize that this was only
our first small step into the cosmos.
Our duty is to honor its legacy.



Kenny A. Chaffin – 1/9/2014

[kennyc]

Another Sample from the book:


Saturn

On Saturn they wear Panama hats
though we’re not sure exactly why.

Could it be the rings
and the stars in their eyes?


Available now at Amazon:

US Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JUPRDYW
UK Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00JUPRDYW

[kennyc]

This poem from the collection was published in the Spring 2014 issue of Star*line:

Visitors


The Earth went dark for three seconds
as the gigantic extraterrestrial ship
passed between it and the sun.

The darkness, the eclipse was the first indication;
no one, none of the telescopes, observatories,
observers or astronomers had seen it coming.

The End Times the believers screamed,
the end of the world the survivalists proclaimed,
we are not alone said the scientists.

And as quickly as it had appeared
it was gone, no sign, no signal
no communication, no trace.

We would wonder, question and ponder this
for five centuries before the next ship appeared
in exactly the same manner.


Kenny A. Chaffin – 2/7/2014


And as an experiment a New, Lower Price for a limited time!