COSMOPOETRY INTERNATIONALS XXIV:
NEEDING MORE COSMOS
I. INTRODUCTION AND MORE
An edition dedicated to the memory of Steve Sneyd (1941-2018)…
…a great prolific and multifaceted English poet,
known mainly for science fiction
(with thousands of poems published in many countries).
He was also a most devoted historian of speculative poetry
and edited over 200 issues of “Data Dump”,
(a science fiction/fantasy/horror/dark fantasy poetry newsletter).
In 2015, he became one of six Grand Masters of Science Fiction Poetry,
a supreme distinction inaugurated in 1995
by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association - SFPA.
He also wrote astronomical poetry
and made reviews about achievements in astropoetry/cosmopoetry
of the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM
(for example, an article entitled “Stars in the East - The Romanian Cosmopoets”
published in 2000 in Star*Line - the Journal of the SFPA).
In the period from 1998 to 2016 he submitted many astropoems
and even astro-art-poems to our international projects
and became the most active foreign contributor.
His memory will always remain a shining star.
Regarding his astropoetry, we remember here
one astrohaiku published during a project of
Cosmopoetry - SARM and Friends
(SUNSPOT HAIKU 2007),
which I dare to complete with a photo taken by myself…
GALILEO
By Steve Sneyd
Galileo first
to see spots on sun cried “It’s
not perfect”: love smiled.
… and I also include:
A LATE REPLY FOR STEVE SNEYD
By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Now I hope you can
decorate the barren Moon
with fire and ice
- SARM, 2019
(introductory photo - Sunset and Evening Star - Valentin Grigore,
text and last three photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe) -
WINTER “NEBULAE”
Photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
IC 1396 (ELEPHANT TRUNK NEBULA)
Photo by Ciprian Vintdevara
(coordinator of Barlad’s Planetarium and Observatory
and discoverer of a red nova)
SUN’S “NEBULAE”
Photographic poem by Gabriel Corban
(international astrophotography laureate)
THOUGHT
By Catalin Voroniuc
The darkness took the light,
but I took your stories
and I became night,
a wave without shore.
AURORA BOREALIS IN NORWAY
Photographic poem by Casper ter Kuile (the Netherlands,
Dutch Meteor Society, International Meteor Organization)
STEVE SNEYD (1941 - 2018): IN MEMORIAM
Excerpt from “Ackworth born, gone West”, July 08, 2018,
by Gerald England (UK,
founder-editor of New Hope International,
Ted Slayer Award laureate,
World Cosmopoetry Champion 2017)
people who have vanished
pressed into poems in small defunct magazines
still breath sometimes athwart my dreams
so wrote Steve Sneyd in Tributary Fractions
which I published in The Hallamshire & Osgoldcross Poetry Express
back in 1973.
Last week I said goodbye to him
as he was buried at the Rose Hill Burial Ground,
a non-denominational site for natural burials at Birkby above Huddersfield.
His family, local friends and various people from the small press world
including Andy Darlington, John Francis Haines, J C Hartley, Pete Presford
and Chris Reed, gathered under the shade of a large tree on the grounds.
We heard about his life, his work and his achievements,
listened to some of his poetry and paid our respects.
TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE IN TARGOVISTE
(OVER DRACULA’S TOWER)
Photographic poem by Valentin Grigore
BEAUTIFUL MOON
Photos by
1. Samsara
2. Dan Moldovanu
3. Sorin Gheorghe
SUPRA-SATURATED MOON
(a lunar mosaic that exaggerates the visibility of the colors,
which are produced by the chemical composition of the Moon’s surface,
allowing differences for zones richer in titan, iron and aluminum:
1. Supra-saturated Moon;
2. More supra-saturated Moon;
3. Greener Moon)
Photographic astropoem by Mihai Dascalu
(Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
STEVE’S UNIVERSE
(homage to Steve Sneyd)
By Marge Simon (USA,
Rhysling Award laureate)
A multifarious visionary,
he wrote in a language
of his own making,
his poetry a puzzle
just slightly out of focus.
Yet if you studied it carefully,
appreciating whence it came,
unwrapping it line by line
within your mind, you’d find
his works make perfect sense.
Steve possessed
An inexplicable faith,
A belief in other worlds within,
without our own
most personal reality.
VISION
Astroartwork by Cristina Tinta Vass Garlesteanu
HOMAGE TO THE DEARS
Photographic astropoem by Valentin Grigore
CHOICE
Photo by Dan Mitrut
(World Cosmopoetry Champion 2017)
SUN-MOON-SUN...
Photographic astropoem by Gabriel Corban
(international astrophotography laureate)
VISION
Photo-collage by Ciprian Vintdevara
(coordinator of Barlad’s Planetarium and Observatory
and discoverer of a red nova)
ASTROHAIKU
By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Man on Earth at dawn,
noon, dusk or night simply means
man in the Cosmos
MAN AND UNIVERSE
Photos by
1. Radu M. Anghel
(Bacau’s Planetarium and Observatory)
2. (concept) Cosmin Sorin Miclos
(president of the Astronomer Disciple Association)
3. Attila Munzlinger
(co-vice-president of the Magyar Astronomical Association of Transylvania)
EUROPEAN ASTRO-MEMORIES
Collected by Adela Muntean
WITH THE SUN
Photographic astropoem by Valentin Grigore
LOOKING FOR THE LITTLE PRINCE:
INTRODUCTION
Astro-photo-poetry series by Attila Munzlinger
(co-vice-president of the Magyar Astronomical Association of Transylvania)
On the occasion of an astronomical presentation under the free sky,
a curious child asked me
why I watch the stars through the telescope,
what I look for, in fact.
“I look for the Little Prince!”
I replied as a joke.
“Oh but he can be anywhere, he travels all the time,
I read this in a book!” exclaimed the child.
So with that I also started on a journey,
hoping to find him.
SUNSHOWS
Photos:
1. Sunrise, by Luca Arsinel
2. Solar Halo, by Nicu Apostu
3. Complex Solar Halo, by Corina Chirila
ASTRONOMER DISCIPLE’S ADVENTURES 2019:
INTRODUCTION
Astro-photo-poetry series by Cosmin Sorin Miclos
(president of the Astronomer Disciple Association)
“Dear Parents,
on the occasion of our school day,
during the “Open Gates” program,
our special guest will be…
the Astronomer Disciple!”
For an arsenal of faith…
… we smile, live, watch…
DREAM HOUSE
Photographic astropoem by Mihai Florea (Romania,
residing in Sweden)
ASTROLITERARY CROPS:
ASTEROID 2006 SF
From technical-humanistic fusion astroarticles by Adrian Bruno Sonka
(coordinator of the Bucharest Municipal Observatory)
The news prepares us for a new approach to an asteroid.
(…)
On November 21, 2019,
Asteroid 2006 SF will pass at a distance of four million kilometers from Earth.
But today, four million kilometers are no longer what they were.
Four millions means 4,000 of thousands of kilometers -
to go four thousand times a thousand kilometers.
It seems far away.
Four million kilometers means 314 diameters of Earth -
to align 314 other similar planets to reach the asteroid.
It sounds far away.
Four million kilometers means 10 times the distance to the Moon.
You know how hard it is for people to get to the Moon,
but at a distance 10 times greater…
It is far away.
(…)
… From all 2020 asteroids that can come closer to
less than 5 million kilometers to Earth,
2006 SF is only the 754th in size.
It doesn’t look impressive, nobody can boast about being in 754th place in a race,
but the impact with such an object would be disastrous
as if a fly would fall into the soup:
together they would break down.
(From “O NOUĂ mare APROPIERE / A New Great Approach”
November 18, 2019)
Sample of accompanying image:
Asteroid 2006 SF seen by Adrian Bruno Sonka
at the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy.
WITH THE MOON
Photographic astropoem by Valentin Grigore
CELESTIAL PHOTO-POEMS 2019:
INTRODUCTION
Astro-series of words and images by George Tanase
Before starting through 2019
I returned a little to the recent past
to remember a few good things in my life.
But now I want to fly,
so give me wings!
HEAVENLY HYPOSTASES
Photos:
1. Lightning Ball by Adrian Preda
2. Vega by Iosif Bodnariu
3. Southern Sky over Chile (Milky Way and Jupiter) by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”
(international astrophotography laureate)
HONORING THE SUN AND THE MOON IN 2019:
A PERSONAL ADVENTURE TO PRIME MERIDIAN -
THE FESTIVITY OF INSIGHT ASTRONOMY
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR, GREENWICH 2019
Astro-series of words and images by Gabriel Corban
(international astrophotography laureate)
Our Sun 2019 - Runner-up: The Active Area AR12714
GIVING LIFE
Photographic astropoem by Maximilian Teodorescu
(international astrophotography laureate)
DUSKS
Photographic astropoem by Valentin Grigore
CELESTIAL PERFUME
(DAY AND NIGHT AROUND THE SUN)
Photographic astropoem by Ciprian Vintdevara
(coordinator of Barlad’s Planetarium and Observatory
and discoverer of a red nova)
LETTER TO STEVE SNEYD
Cosmopoem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Dear Steve:
Walking among the stands of Bucharest Sci-Fi 2019,
I remembered that I recently imagined a tournament
of science fiction-fantasy-astronomical poetry between us
at such an event
(perhaps even at the astronomy stand of SARM).
It is true,
we already made one a few years ago
in the American on-line magazine “Astropoetica”,
but this time I wanted one in flesh and blood!
However, needing more Cosmos,
you were in a hurry to start to other spaces.
So that I think I’ll buy a strong telescope
and I’ll look for your spirit.
Perhaps now you are
somewhere in Alpha Centauri.
Or perhaps you moved
to Andromeda.
Perhaps I should look for you between
the constellation of your birth
and the constellation of your departure
(with or without taking into consideration
the precession of the equinoxes).
Or perhaps you fell in love with
the smiles of the Pleiades.
Someday I’ll find you
and we’ll make this new tournament
anywhere in the Universe
just because cosmic intentions
should never be abandoned!
SUMMER FALLING STAR
Photo by Valentin Grigore
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