Astropoetry to the International Year of Astronomy 2009

Moon and Venus over the Royal Church in Targoviste, Romania, 2008-12-31 © Valentin Grigore introduces Astropoetry to the International Year of Astronomy 2009 by members and friends of the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy; Project Coordinator: Andrei Dorian Gheorghe; Project Designer: Florin Stancu.

Already published are a prologue including some excellent photographs and poetry concluding with an ASTROTIPURITURA by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

Choose the light, man, choose the high light,
Then follow it and become bright!

and the 1st Quarter.

Arlene Carol exhorts

Come, let us join together
To celebrate
All of these glorious celestial bodies
And other galactic orrery…

The poems and photographs record such events as the Moon-Venus Conjunction, Ursa Major over the Retezat Mountains, the Quadrantid meteor shower, Star trails of Orion and Canis Major, Moon sequences, the Rosette Nebula, the Sun Pillar, eclipses, Saturn's rings, Comets Lulin and Kushida, Northern Lights and halos.

My favourite poem (and not just because he is a friend from down the road) is EARTHSHINE by John Francis Haines (U.K. Leader of the Eight Hand Gang - British network of SF poets)

Basking in dim, reflected glory, the Old
Moon sleeps in the New Moon's arms, but behind
This faded face lurks the Darkside, forever
Hid from view, accessible only through
Direct visit by man or probe, a land
Beyond our ken, Luna's shadowy secret.

Three more collections are promised before the end of the year and I shall look forward to viewing them.