Through The Light

The latest anthology from Cosmopetry is Through The Light described as:
COSMOPOETRY INTERNATIONALS XX:
WITH OR WITHOUT EINSTEIN,
THROUGH THE LIGHT!

-dedication to the International Year of Light 2015
by SARM's Cosmopoetry Master Club and Friends-
My own contribution is a haiga based on a view of the bandstand in Victoria Park, Denton.
well beyond the light
twenty-two miles a second
Spooky whizzes by
and is a reference to the comet/asteroid that passed by the Earth in 2015.

Mine is only one of many contributions of astronomical photographs and poems featuring cosmic events that happened in 2015. Credits go to
Coordinator Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Technical counsellor Valentin Grigore
Literary counsellor Arlene Carol
Web design Florin Alexandru Stancu

With the support of some admirable members of the
Science Fiction Poetry Association, Astronomers Without Borders
and International Meteor Organization

*

© 2015 SARM
(Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy)
A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Astro-Haiga for SARM's International Short Astropoetry Gallery

as the tide rolls out
temporary pools reflect
the lowering sun

words & image © Gerald England

This haiga is included in the International Short Astropoetry Gallery, a project by SARM's Astropoetry Master Club coordinated by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe and Valentin Grigore in partnership with Astronomers Without Borders with the support of some members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association and International Meteor Organization, the astronomical circle of Bucharest National Children Palace and SRCSTV ("Youth for Future" Romanian Society for Culture and Science)

The project celebrates 20 years of existence of the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy (SARM).

The pages contain a wealth of photography, poetry, haiga from all over the world.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday and Weekend Reflections.

Evening Energy

evening energy
reaches out across sand
and silent sea

words & image © Gerald England

This is one of two of my haiga that are included in International Master Festival, a project by SARM's Astropoetry Master Club coordinated by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe and Valentin Grigore in partnership with Astronomers Without Borders with the support of some members of the Science Fiction Poetry Association
and International Meteor Organization, the astronomical circle of Bucharest National Children Palace and SRCSTV ("Youth for Future" Romanian Society for Culture and Science)

The project celebrates 20 years of existence of the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy (SARM).

The pages contain a wealth of photography, poetry, haiga from all over the world.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday: R is forRealm of Telescopes

This haiga featuring my father at Jodrell Bank in 1971 is my contribution to Realm of Telescopes, an international cosmopoetic essay about telescopes centered around the SARM pilgrimage to GranTeCan.

Mike Simmons, founder/president of Astronomers Without Borders and chair of Global Astronomy Month writes

The great observatories of the world have always been places of pilgrimage for scientists and enthusiasts. They are the temples of wisdom of the modern age, where knowledge is captured in nothing less than the light of the Universe. Those who visit them are always humbled, sometimes by the technology and sheer mass of the huge instruments, other times by being in the presence of the seekers of the truths that the Universe hides. Sometimes those seekers are the "ghosts" of our history - long-gone predecessors who spent their lives building that knowledge a few photons at a time.

This is one of six webpages that have been compiled by the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy and coordinated by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe and Valentin Grigor.

• EXPEDITION TO EL GRAN TELESCOPIO CANARIAS is based on a SARM and Astro Travels expedition in October 2010, and was open to ulterior submissions from those who visited or dream to visit the biggest optical telescope in the world and the largest international concentration of telescopes in the northern hemisphere, placed in the Canary island of La Palma.


• TELESCOPES IN TIME AND SPACE is an astropoem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe in which he visits 21 telescopes.


• THE COSMIC BEAUTY OF LA PALMA contains a wealth of photographs of their expedition to the island.


• THE REALM OF TELESCOPES is a collection of personal contributions that adds to our collective knowledge and perception of great observatories.


• HAPPY OBSERVATIONAL NIGHTS IN LA PALMA provides us with just what the title says it does.


• POST-SCRIPTUM celebrates Global Astronomy Month, April 2011.

BBC News: Jodrell Bank observatory has been responsible for some hugely important astronomical discoveries since it was established after the Second World War, but there have been doubts over its future in recent years due to constant funding worries. Now it has been selected as the headquarters for a £1.3bn project to build the world's biggest radio telescope. The new headquarters at Jodrell Bank will open in January 2012, superseding the existing project office at the University of Manchester.

For more R posts visit ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday: J is for the January 2011 Partial Solar Eclipse

The story is told on the Cosmopoetry website by SARM's Astropoetry Master Club and Friends.

On January 4, 2011 the old continent and large zones of Asia and Africa were spoiled by such an eclipse. although the sky did not break anywhere the winter clouds, an entire world vibrated for this phenomenon.


Moon and Venus over Targoviste © Valentin Grigore

*****

A Jubilee For The Foucault Pendulum
by Dimitrie Olenici

I made a jubilee experiment with the Foucault Pendulum at Iasi University, 50 years after a similar one made by Ghe. Jeverdan, Ghe. Rusu and V. Antonescu to the solar eclipse of February 15, 1961 when they discovered that the oscillation period of a pendulum changes during an eclipse. My experiment, made by a pendulum of 17.78 meters installed in an inferior room, confirmed their results one more time. A high moment, although I observed this eclipse at the subsoil.

*****

The Partial Solar Eclipse In Europe
by David Asher (Northern Ireland, UK, astronomer at Armagh Observatory, famous meteor shower predictor, discoverer of asteroids, co-star in Hollywood movie Armageddon)

At dawn on the New Year's fourth day
The sun was part eaten away.
The eclipse was quite deep,
But I was asleep -
What will other astronomers say?

*****

Tanka
by Gerald England (UK, Editor of New Hope International, honorary member of the International Writers and Artists Association, laureate of the Ted Slade Award)

an eclipse tonight
posted a friend on Facebook
but by then too late
out of my window blackness
others' visions seen online

*****

Pse 2011 In Magurele (Romania)
photograph © Andreea Fazacas

*****

Brief Escape From A Hysterical Town: Bucharest, January 4, 2011
haiku by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

Over a park
the eclipse like a
bird of fire.

*****

Hanne’S Object
or
A Parallel Thought During A Partial Solar Eclipse When The Sky Is Cloudy
by Steve Sneyd (UK, director of Hilltop Press and editor of Data Dump, laureate of the Peterson Trophy)

You praise blue gas ball
galaxy - big 10° K hot
yet no stars in it to
heat this mystery you smile
"as puzzling as me to you"

*****

Vampires And Eclipses
by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

Dracula is a vampire,
said someone,
falsifying the historical truth.

In this Romanian brave ruler's Capital,
Targoviste,
no observer of the 2011 partial solar eclipse
saw Vlad Tepes Draculea
(his real name)
eating our star.
Only the Moon's "body check"
to the Sun.

*****


Eclipse Among Snowflakes In Targoviste
photo © Cristian Daniel Grigore (age17);
haiku by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

among smowflakes
which are never twins
another unique eclipse

*****

So many potential observers were frustrated by the weather conditions but they manage to contribute some superb photographs nonetheless. The above are just a small sample. See them all at European Winter Astro-Story Of The Partial Solar Eclipse 2011.

For more J posts visit ABC Wednesday.

For more views of the heavens visit Skywatch Friday.

Haiga for Leslie Moon

The people at One Stop Poetry are featuring haiku on their site.

They reproduced my article How to Write Haiku with permission.

They also credited me with three haiku I DID NOT WRITE! I've since discovered that the mis-attributed work is by Don Baird.

Anyhow readers were encouraged to use Leslie Moon's photo as an inspiration to write a haiku so here is mine combined with Leslie's photo to form a haiga.

glimmer of light
behind dark clouds
a storm brews

© gerald england

ABC Wednesday: X

ten kisses
mark the spot
unknown

© 2010 gerald england

Visit ABC Wednesday for more X posts.

XI Calico Cat Contest Entry

across the pond
to an unknown friend
fond kisses

© Gerald England

was my entry for the recent Calico Cat Contest where authors were asked to compose a haiku to complement Origa's sumi-e "Sympathy. Orang-utan and Lizard".


Rice paper 'Double Shuen', Japanese sumi ink, Chinese watercolours, Copyright © Origa .


is the Russian translation of my haiku.

The contest attracted 134 poems by 58 poets from 20 countries and mine didn't make the last 28 selected for the final.

The winning poem and comments on the winner and runners-up can be found at Results of the XI Calico Cat International bilingual haiku contest.

Global Astronomy Month 2010

The latest anthology page from our friends at SARM is Global Astronomy Month.

Valentin Grigore writes

Many people wanted another international year of astronomy because they felt that astronomy is not only a simple science and the sky is not only a simple study object, so the Global Astronomy Month came naturally.

GAM meant a special living under the starry canopy connected to the coming of the spring, when the sap of the Earth meets the sap of the Sky, and this union arouses all and gives life.

We had a month with many celestial events:
a splendid lunar circuit
(begun and ended with the full moon),
the planet Saturn like a "planet with handles"
(just as Galileo Galilei had seen it four centuries ago),
beautiful conjunctions,
and a supplementary sky gift,
the Lyrid meteor shower.

And sky lovers also organized a solar week, a lunar week, star parties and even remote astronomy programs.

We felt more,
although we had to confront
the barrier of light pollution,
a measure of human ignorance.

Our souls should reflect the light of the stars
just as it really is,
because astronomy is not only a simple science,
and the sky is not only a simple study object.

The sky is all!

The website has hundreds of photographs of the events they organised plus contributions from around the world.

UK contributions include:

Pluto is turning red
they tell us. Warns us of what
force melts its cold face?

Steve Sneyd

My own haiga which first appeared on Spring Haiku 2010.

and

BENEATH THE ASH CLOUD

Across a clear sky
Unsullied by vapour trails,
A meteor streaks.

John Francis Haines

24th April 2010 was

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMY DAY

Let's celebrate cosmology,
planetology and astrometry,
galactic and extragalactic astronomy,
astrophysics and astrochemisry,
stellar astronomy,
astrobiology and astrophilosophy.

Aesthetically,
this itemization of the profound branches
of the "queen of sciences"
appears like a succession of rhymes.

But only watching and feeling the sky
we can celebrate astronomy
through astropoetry.

Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

The Coordinator's Last Words are

SARMs Astropoetry Master Club tried successfully to release this project before May 18th and May 24th, the birthdays of Steliana Gheorghe (1934-2009) and Costica Gheorghe (1927-2007), in order to honour their decisive role in the existence of the international contemporary astropoetry movement.

SARM's Astropoetry Master Club and Friends tried to make in this project not only the largest-ever web page of astropoetry and astropoetic images, but also a record of beauty regarding the cosmic reflection in the human soul.

And after all Astropoetry to the Global Astronomy Month 2010 represented the most beautiful gift for when I turned 50 years.

Andrei Dorian Gheorghe,
2010 May 14th

See it all by visiting Global Astronomy Month

ABC Wednesday - Y is for Yorkshire (again)

words © Susan Shand; photograph © Betty Longbottom.

A year ago I posted Y is for Yorkshire in the first round of ABC and introduced you to haiku in Yorkshire dialect.

I now bring you the work of Susan Shand.

kids laikin'
next doors do a moonlight flit
t' 'uddersfield

up Bingley 5-rise
roses spred all ovver t' walls
even on t' barges

dawn on t' Otley Chevin
747s off t't' sunshine

I have combined the first of these haiku with a photograph of Houses at bottom of Outcote Bank by Betty Longbottom, used here with permission, to create a haiga.

You can find a dialect haiga of my own on Winter Haiku 2008/09.

More Y posts can be seen on the ABC Wednesday Anthology blog.

Others can be found via the ABC Wednesday with Mister Linky which carries a registry of participants.

Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas Eve morning
do I really need any
last minute shopping?

gerald england

This was the sky outside my back yard on Wednesday morning. It was so lovely that I did in fact go out for a short walk, two short bus journeys, a train ride to Glossop and the long bus home. I bought nothing and was home by lunchtime.

Christmas morning was foggy and then we had a spell of bright sunshine but before long it became gray again.

The haiga was first published on Winter Haiku 2008/2009 and is reposted here as this week's contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Autumn into Winter

autumn mist
slipping and sliding
towards winter

© 2008, Gerald England

This was my last contribution to the Autumn Haiku 2008 blog. The follow-on blog is Winter Haiku 2008/2009.


...

paradox

below the M6
above the penny ferry
a sea-bound ship

words & photo © 2008, Gerald England.

Posted in response to the paradox theme at One Single Impression

The ferry referred to now costs 11p apparently, and the M6 bridge is now rather wider.

Serendipity

autumn pleasures
the rusting roller-coaster
remains behind

© 2008, gerald england

Posted in response to the "serendipity" prompt at One Single Impression.

smoke

market entrance
a thrown down cigarette
still smokes

© 2008 gerald england

A seasonal haiga can be viewed on Autumn Haiku 2008.

Through a Window

I've given up
researching Latin names
now watch the birdies

text & photograph © 2008, gerald england

In response to the "through a window" prompt at One Single Impression.

Doorway (Hyde Theatre Royal)

Hyde Theatre Royal
the rescue plan is onward
to the last exit

text & photograph © 2008, gerald england

In response to the "doorway" prompt at One Single Impression.

For more information, view my photos from the Heritage Open Days at Hyde Theatre Royal or visit the Theatre Royal Onward website. Other relevant photographs can be found on Hyde Daily Photo

Haiga on Sketchbook

The latest issue of Sketchbook, a journal for eastern and western short forms, features five of my Summer Haiga.

Previous issues have included my Winter Haiga and my Spring Haiga.

Penny (Midnight Melody)

Penny was born on the 14th March 1989, the last of a litter of 5 pups.

A Manchester Terrier, her Pedigree included a number of breed champions.

She was some twelve weeks or so old when we acquired her. She was raised outside the Yorkshire seaside spa of Scarborough. As the journey to collect her took us across the Pennines, we decided to call her Penny. For her kennel name we chose Melody as that name linked her to her mother and Midnight on account of her dark coat.


She was a very nervous dog, prone to snapping at strangers and yapping at the slightest noise. At first she did not like car travel and was frequently sick. For Easter 1991, we went up to Stranraer for a holiday, staying at a farmhouse B&B. We took her with us. Penny had to live for the whole week in the back of our Ford Sierra Estate. It transformed her into a car-loving dog.


After that she began to accompany me most days on my rounds as an insurance agent in Oldham. She was given the nickname "my alternative car alarm"


We made three attempts to breed from Penny. The first was with a dog from Penistone, West Yorkshire, but she failed to take. We then tried her with a dog from Belper, Derbyshire. After the second mating with this dog she appeared to take. She made herself a little nest in one corner and on the night the pups were due I slept downstairs with her. It turned out, when we took her to the vets, that she'd had an ectopic pregnancy. After that we didn't try again.


She developed an abscess when she was about eight or nine years old and had to have fourteen teeth taken out. After that, a lot of her hair gradually began to go grey. Early in 2002 she developed a tumour on her belly. Although still quite active and alert, she began to sleep longer in her bed at night. When our son, Craig, came home from college for his Easter break, we explained things to him and he said goodbye to her for the last time. On 18th April 2002 the vet put her to sleep.

walking to the vets
she stops at every tree and bush
there is no walk home

GERALD ENGLAND

Andrei Dorian Gheorghe wrote from Romania

Your photo-story about Penny impressed me very much.

(in memory of Penny)

poor terrier going
to create a new constellation:
The Middle Dog

This account of Penny is reproduced here today as a response to the pet theme at One Single Impression.

I may not be responding to comments over the next few days as tomorrow (Monday) I shall be attending my sister's funeral.

blooming

simply waiting
among greens and yellows
a blooming blackbird

text & photograph © 2008, gerald england

In response to the "flowering" prompt at One Single Impression.

The original photograph is from our recent holiday in Paignton, Devon.