ASTRO-METEOR POETRY SHOW-PROJECT
A special page realized by the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM
with the support of some members of the International Meteor Organization
Coordinated by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe, Alastair McBeath and Valentin Grigore,
and web designed by Florin Stancu
"What can we do?
Life, life... Is this life?
Say yes or no."
"Much shorter than a star,
a little longer than a meteor.
Yes, I'm afraid so."
-Steliana (Stella) Gheorghe (mother, 1934.05.18-2009.10.01)
and Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (son)-
*
A METEOR OVER SAND WALK-WAYS
-artwork by Calin Niculae (SARM)-
*
Since 1997,
the scientific lectures of the annual International Meteor Conference (IMC)
have been completed by an original Saturday night Astropoetry Show
(a combination of astronomical poetry, drama, humour, music, arts, improvisations, etc.),
which Shows have come to enrich the event humanistically,
and have attracted over time participants from 17 countries and 3 continents.
But at the IMC 2009 in Porec (Croatia, September 24-27),
this traditional spectacle was replaced by an international meteor poetry poster
due to special reasons.
The founder and director of the Astropoetry Show, Andrei Dorian Gheorghe,
had to remain in Romania to take care of his mother,
hospitalized in a critical state of health;
and here we recall the very important role of Andrei Dorian Gheorghe's parents,
Costica Gheorghe and Steliana Gheorghe, sadly now both deceased,
in preparing the first 12 Astropoetry Shows between 1997 and 2008.
Another humanistic initiative, the Meteor Contemporary Poetry Project,
a periodic anthology published from 2002 to 2008,
preserved in the electronic archive of the International Meteor Organization,
was absorbed in 2009 by the project
"Astropoetry to the International Year of Astronomy".
Thus in honour of this unique Year,
the 13th Astropoetry Show and the Meteor Contemporary Poetry Project
have merged into this celebratory electronic page,
including a meteor poetry prologue,
new meteor poems from the summer of 2009 from all over the world
(which reproduce much of the content of the IMC 2009 poster),
astro-thoughts from the IMC 2009 participants,
photographs,
and a commemorative post-scriptum.
*
IMC 2009: THE METEOR POETRY POSTER
(directed poetically by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
and photographically by Valentin Grigore)
-photos by Valentin Grigore (President of SARM)-
-METEOR POETRY PROLOGUE-
*
FALLING STARS
-by Dominic Diamant (SARM)
Why do the leaves secede from trees
and give themselves to the ground?
Do they know another song
about other chimeras?
Why do the mellow fruits fall down
from a simple breeze,
and look for
a new ford of hope?
Why do the falling stars split
the darkness of the night
and disappear
untouched by fear?
Why do the people die?
We fully feel their lack,
but nobody knows why
they never come back.
*
GALILEO AND THE FALLING STARS
-by Adrian Sima (SARM)-
The objects of
he who collected old light
dry on the wires of space
On his stand,
withered architectures,
rancid ink,
forgotten stars,
birds,
eyelids with teeth,
old coins and meteors,
silver floors.
*
FROM WILLIAM FREDERICK DENNING
TO PAUL ROGGEMANS
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
William F. Denning was a British man
who discovered comets and a nova,
and helped found modern meteor astronomy.
In order to complete his message to humanity,
he wrote meteor poetry.
Almost one century later,
the Belgian man Paul Roggemans dedicated his apogee
(with the support of an enthusiastic generation)
to the unification of observational meteor astronomy
and the creation of the International Meteor Organization.
In order to complete his message to humanity,
he also wrote meteor poetry.
William F. Denning is alive
through his opera,
which is open
to many other meteor shower outbursts.
Paul Roggemans lives among us,
and the achieved dream of him and his great fellows
is open
to many other meteor lovers.
*
SEQUENCE FROM THE IMC 2009 LECTURES
-photo by Valentin Grigore (SARM)-
-SUMMER METEOR POETRY 2009-
MOTTO:
a dusty filament
drifts across Earth's orbit
raining light
-Gerald England (U.K.,
Editor of New Hope International
and Honorary Member of the International Artists and Writers Academy);
first published in Meteor Contemporary Poetry Project 5,
IMO-News Mailing List, 2005 June 21st-
*
METEOR OBSERVER
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (SARM)-
The sun has set and I...
am careful of the moonlight,
prepare the clock, the special lantern and the dictaphone,
count the stars in order to estimate the limiting magnitude,
choose the radiant-constellation,
hope for a good zenithal hourly rate,
glorify the parent-body (the comet)...
and wait for the heavenly friends.
*
ALONE
-by Arlene Carol (Turkey;
born in U.S.A.)-
Alone one evening by the shore,
I gazed into the growing darkness
that amplified the solitude.
In my cupped hands,
I held the sea reflecting
The light of a billion stars and a narrow slice
of the new moon.
Thinking there was only emptiness and desolation
within the void,
I felt sad and alone.
Then across my upturned palms,
a brilliant flash of light!
A streaking star that moved from east to west!
And reminding me
that there are greater things
beyond myself.
*
SUMMER METEORS 2009
-by Dan Mitrut (Vice-President of SARM)-
It is a simple incident
you will understand it easily
In hard times
the sky comforts us
through a multiplied beauty
In my village
because of the world crisis
the mayoralty makes economies
After midnight
when the artificial light is switched off
the sky becomes alive
Hundreds of meteors pass through
the unknown wings of the seconds
Nothing is lost
All things depend on the place
where minds and eyes leave hearts
to fly
*
AN EARLY PERSEID FIREBALL (2009.07.24)
-photo by Catalin Timosca (Romania)-
*
SPORADICS, ALPHA CAPRICORNIDS,
PERSEIDS, KAPPA CYGNIDS...
-by Danut Ionescu (New Zealand,
Auckland Astronomical Society; born in Romania)-
I envy the northern hemisphere
for its summer meteors,
but I am so excited when I see
its meteor photographs...
*
SPORADIC METEOR IN THE MORNING SKY (2009.08.03)
-astro-photo-poem by Valentin Grigore (President of SARM)-
Enjoy the heavens
of this International Year of Astronomy
and do not hesitate to share
your feelings!
Give permanence
to the beauties of the sky!
*
THE POET AND THE METEOR
-by Stephen Michael Volk (Canada)-
With modern haste the ancient mariner
Careened through darkness, captivating eyes!
As earthbound fastened on this foreigner,
Unwilling to release their stellar prize!
It raced past worlds, to lodge upon the earth,
Past provinces and states, then towns and trees!
In weary night, its momentary mirth
Would startle stillness and outrace the breeze...
A touch of splendor, freely fell to grace
A poet, bathed in heavy bluish white!
A power of purity fell on his face;
Preliminary Second Coming light!
Supreme o'er nature, unexpected pope!
To fill the night with light, delight, and hope!
But for a moment, unexpected light!
An unknown corner of the universe
Released this messenger to startle night!
A lifetime memory, though all too terse...
The poet, on an unassuming hill
In routine nocturne, fond of falling stars,
Was suddenly enraptured by the thrill
Of such a cosmic jewel, kin of Mars!
A burst of energy for Faith! White rock!
The grandeur and the power of its flash
Arrayed his walk with luminescent chalk,
To flare the candles of tall mountain ash...
Old mountain ash, staid hardwoods of dark earth,
Were candles to surprise drawn eyes with mirth!
Prophetic light invaded liberal night!
Superior to politics and lies,
A beacon for a prophet-poet's sight,
This timeless oracle smiled on the skies!
How blessed to see the image of idea,
In all its power and grandeur, sweeping past!
As though a message summoned by Hosea,
To be recorded and forever last!
Memorial to great ones of the past,
Whose moment's inspiration would outlast
Civilizations to the soil cast,
And bygone nations who were unsurpassed!
Disdain the dark, allow the blind to see!
Brief burst to harness for posterity!
An angel of the throne of the Divine!
Almighty herald from such sacred space,
Illuminates the endless, sparkling mine,
With graceful power for concise embrace!
The hurried pontiff pearled the night, to bless
With wonder, where there dwells no poverty,
A momentary art form, with finesse
Addressing poets for their loyalty!
It came to earth, this ultimate white knight,
An image of the man from Galilee...
Igniting and exciting, with a rite
Of purity and then, obscurity...
In open air, all things were brought to light!
It came to earth, from height to proffer white!
How brief this Royalty, a regal tool
A moment's Pageantry for wondrous rule!
A rare glimpse for a wise man and a fool,
Glints from the eye of God, through starry pool!
A reign of splendor, all too temporal,
Its substance one can only venerate!
As races vanished held ephemeral
Recordings of the fate of their brief mate!
The ancient Chinese wrote of shooting stars,
Most recently, Ch'ing dynasty was awed!
In "Gilgamesh", then Greece and Rome, now ours!
Romanians spied it as the staff of God;
From a Divine hall hurls His fireball,
Reminding of His sovereignty o'er all!
Like a lost love, I want to feel your flare
Burn brightly! Such an all-consuming dove!
To treasure, to forever hold your stare,
Beloved so timeless, just you I think of!
Unique, unequalled, unaccompanied,
No competition lives to vie with you!
Your momentary gaze met mine and freed
Me from the night, when I glued to your hue!
I mourn to think our starry tryst is past,
That you move on to never come again!
Yet, memory of you will still outlast
Inferior millions void of a quill pen!
My wish for you, colossal falling star?
That I may, once again, be where you are!
*
FIREBALL FROM THE PERSEID MAXIMUM NIGHT
(2009.08.12-13)
-photo by Marian Lucian Achim (Romania)-
*
PERSEIDS DISPLAY
-by Paul Roggemans (Belgium,
the main creator of the International Meteor Organization)-
Looking at the warm summer sky,
seeing some bright shooting stars,
hither and thither they flash by,
they look so close, but are so far.
Another two, three more dropping,
it is Saint Lawrence's tears we see,
Everywhere stars appear hopping,
decorating the darkness for free.
Such magnificent celestial power,
leaving trails faint and bright,
no doubt it's the Perseid shower,
providing a spectacular night.
*
A MAGNITUDE -4 PERSEID AND A HALO
-photo by Valentin Grigore (Romania)-
*
LIMERICK
-by David Asher (U.K.,
astronomer at Armagh Observatory, Northern Ireland,
and Council member of the International Meteor Organization)-
Occasionally getting quite bright
They're really a beautiful sight
Meteors from Perseus
Can inspire these verses
And persuade us to watch them all night.
*
THE PERSEIDS
-by Marge Simon (U.S.A.,
Editor of Star*Line, the Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association)-
We follow the fire
of Comet Swift-Tuttle
as lovers do
but she evades
like tears of Perseus
our myriad lights
paint the night skies
with unrequited love
*
PERSEIDS
(variant 2009)
-by Lucian Boboc (SARM)-
Every year
Perseus calls his subjects
that "burn" with eagerness
to see him.
*
FIREBALL ON THE PERSEID MAXIMUM NIGHT 2009
-photo by Monica Dragan (Romania)-
*
PERSEIDS, PERSEIDS
-by Boris Marian-Mehr (SARM)-
It is August.
Pleiades of meteors
run in the sky,
you Perseids,
the nimbus of a silent eternity,
daughters of Perseus
(the son of Zeus)...
golden powders,
mute songs
(Danae knew nothing),
you Perseids
are women or meteors,
and send me
the pain of mortality.
*
HE WHO DIDN'T LOOK
(Perseus and the Perseids)
-by David Kopaska-Merkel (U.S.A.,
Editor of Dreams and Nightmares, the magazine of fantastic poetry)-
After slaying the monster
and having many further adventures
he ascended to the sky
There he remains
but he still battles the enemies of mankind
and when the starwinds
are in the right quarter
he illuminates our nights
*
A MAD ASTRONOMICAL CLAIM
-by Alfredo Caronia (Italy,
co-discoverer of 3 asteroids)-
Perseids
first in class
but not unique,
best sellers
of the astronomer's attention,
matter for evaluation
and media for reference,
model
in a ring
of almost monthly
rains,
sons
of a mother comet,
birth
from cosmic germs,
conventionally
classified
in periodical swarms;
meteors
are waiting
for a resolution
of a cosmic dispute,
concerning
the reservation
of a turn over,
in order to
obtain
the collocation
in a focal
issuing point,
in dynamic symbiosis
with a periodical comet,
grooving
and going
across
the constellation Ophiuchus,
the newborn
zodiacal
celestial body.
*
PERSEID METEOR (2009.08.13)
-photo by Catalin Paduraru "Sarpe" (Romania)-
*
PERSEID INVITATION
-by Cristian Miala (SARM)-
Do you watch the sky these nights?
Or, as usual,
the computer?
*
PERSEID PROJECTION
-by Victor Chifelea (SARM)-
A wonderful place
where I can watch
the meteors...
*
PERSEIDS
(variant 2009)
-by Paul Boboc (SARM)-
Perseus cries
for the eternities
taken by Pegasus.
*
DO YOU COME TO THE PERSEIDS?
-by Gelu-Claudiu Radu (SARM)-
If the meteors are not enough,
I can bring
some strong drink.
*
PERSEID MAXIMUM NIGHT 2009 - A METEOR IN HERCULES
-photo by Monica Dragan (Romania)-
*
PERSEIDS 2009 IN NORTHUMBERLAND
-by Alastair McBeath (U.K.,
Meteor Section Director to Britain's Society for Popular Astronomy
and Vice-President of the International Meteor Organization)-
The Perseids did not enjoy the best of weather here,
and I managed a couple of casual sky-checks only on August 10-11 and 11-12,
seeing just two Perseids on the latter night, as skies were so very poor.
I did an actual meteor watch on August 12-13, and though again skies
were not ideal - LM +5.2, average 25% cloud cover - they were much better
than on the previous two nights!
I saw 13 Perseids in 1h20m before conditions deteriorated too much.
However, it looks as if Europe was the worst place to be for the shower this time,
with strong activity seen from North America on both August 11-12 and 12-13,
and from the Far East on 12-13.
Activity was quite consistently good from Europe overnight on 12-13 as well,
but much lower than was seen elsewhere.
At least,
that's what the preliminary results show for now!
*
PERSEIDS 2009
-by Ion(ut) Moraru (SARM)-
This week we have a party,
the cork spurts from the celestial champagne,
which tickles our eyes,
we cannot sleep,
Perseus sneezes
and calls us from the contemplation
of a full, indiscreet moon.
*
PERSEIDS 2009 IN CHESHIRE
-by John Francis Haines (U.K.,
Leader of the Eight Hand Hang - British network of SF poets)-
Weather here atrocious -
we've had hardly any summer to speak of,
hope it's been a bit better
where you are!
*
PERSEIDS 2009 IN FLORIDA
-by Emily Gaskin (U.S.A.,
Editor of Astropoetica)-
I should not have worried
about the moon -
it's been nothing
but clouds all night
every night this week.
Perhaps we'll have better luck
next year...
*
PERSEIDS 2009 IN THE ROMANIAN LAND
-by Doina Chilargi (SARM)-
Under the light of the moon,
as in a divine blessing,
under the rain of stars,
as in the beginning of the world,
under the sign of love,
as in a sublime advance,
we would lose ourselves
in a fairy dance.
*
PERSEID PERSISTENT TRAIN
-photo-collage by Valentin Grigore (Romania)-
*
KAPPA CYGNIDS
-by Zigmund Tauberg (SARM)-
Even so frail,
Sometimes the Swan amazes by
Sending torrents of fire
From the high sky.
*
KAPPA CYGNID METEOR OVER THE TURDA KEYS (2009.08.13)
-photo by Catalin Timosca (Romania)-
*
METEORS
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (SARM)-
Winter Quadrantids,
Spring Lyrids,
Summer Perseids,
Autumn Geminids...
(plus Eta Aquarids, Kappa Cygnids,
Orionids, Leonids...)
Many times I think
I have written enough about the falling stars,
but every new meteor appearance surprises me
with another outburst,
another trajectory,
another colour,
and another way to be free.
*
FIREBALL OVER THE VLADEASA MOUNTAINS (2009.08.15-16)
-photo by Tibor Vesselenyi (Romania)-
-SEQUENCES FROM THE IMC 2009-
*
WISH YOU WERE HERE
(to Steliana Gheorghe - who lived her last days in a Romanian hospital
during the time of the IMC 2009 -
and Andrei Dorian Gheorghe - who took care of his mother in the hospital
and missed the IMC)
-photo-series by Valentin Grigore (President of SARM)-
-ASTRO-CONFESSIONS BY IMC 2009 PARTICIPANTS
(Why I Love Astronomy and Meteors)-
MOTTO:
Burning fingernail
scratches message down blackboard
of sky "Not alone."
-Steve Sneyd (U.K.,
Director of Hilltop Press and Editor of Data Dump);
first published in Meteor Contemporary Poetry Project 2,
IMO-News Mailing List, 2003 December 22nd-
*
METEOR WORK FOR 35 YEARS:
-by Paul Roggemans (Belgium,
the main creator of the International Meteor Organization)-
Wondering about the meteors' origin,
questioning the explanations I got,
I spent my time with literature digging,
searching many books a whole lot.
Any answer brought more questions,
this way meteors became my venture,
by undertaking regular observations,
it also brought a fascinating pleasure.
Years went by without much progress,
disappointment provoked perseverance,
we had our first international congress,
cooperation found a general acceptance.
Knowledge needs to be shared in press,
so we created WGN for all involved,
and handbooks to promote easy access,
an initiative everybody soon approved.
The statistical law of great numbers,
soon showed cooperation's worth,
with amazing results for all members,
the idea for IMO created straight forth.
And so today we share more insight,
many old mysteries have been cleared,
the achievements are a great delight,
available in publications that appeared.
The quest for knowledge is now fulfilled,
great thanks to all who did contribute,
time and efforts have never been billed,
because passion is not like an institute!
Paul Roggemans (Belgium) at the IMC 2009
*
FOR ANDREI, HIS MOTHER AND FOR THE IMC
MY MEMORIES REGARDING OUR JOINED HOBBY
-by Casper ter Kuile (Holland,
former Council member of the International Meteor Organization,
organizer of the International Meteor Conference 1986,
co-historian of the IMC)-
Why is it I like this great hobby so much?
It is the wonders of all that happens
in and outside the atmosphere of our beautiful planet.
From all kinds of weather phenomena to light effects in the atmosphere
by day or night.
Not to forget the beauties of outer space from nearby comets
to the faintest galaxies.
We ever keep wondering!
Valentin Grigore (SARM) and Casper ter Kuile (Holland)
at the IMC 2009
*
AN OBSERVER FROM ANTWERP
-by Cis Verbeeck (Belgium,
Council member of the International Meteor Organization)
There was an observer from Antwerp
who tried to observe from his suburb
He bought a radio
and joined the IMO
and noticed the meteors were superb
He did this because he loves Nature
From physics and maths he has pleasure
but also enjoys
a night with the boys
amidst the green fields to watch meteors
Cis Verbeeck at the IMC 2009
*
WHY I LIKE ASTRONOMY
-by Antonio Martinez Picar (Venezuela,
member of the International Meteor Organization)-
Taking into account the huge number of reasons that come to mind
every time I think about why I like astronomy,
I thought it might be easier to determine
what I do NOT like about astronomy and meteors.
Since this is a smaller set,
it should be simpler to understand the dimensions of the original solution
through the complementarity...
See,
the complement of the empty set equals infinity.
Valentin Grigore (SARM) and Antonio Martinez Picar (Venezuela)
at the IMC 2009
*
I LOVE METEOR ASTRONOMY
-by Marc Gyssens (Belgium,
head of the Urania Public Observatory in Antwerp,
co-founder and Council member of the International Meteor Organization,
author of the IMO Constitution;
in 2005 an asteroid was named after him)-
When I started meteor observing 30 years ago,
I was with a group of four friends who lived in neighboring towns.
Now, thirty years later,
we live in a world-wide community of meteor workers,
corresponding with each other,
exchanging experiences through a journal
respected by amateurs and professionals alike,
and meeting each other in different parts of the world,
at the annual International Meteor Conferences,
at other conferences,
and sometimes by coincidence on the occasion of a solar eclipse ...
Over the last 30 years,
we have grown into one big family,
and we must endeavor to keep it this way!
Marc Gyssens at the IMC 2009
*
HAIKU
-by David Asher (U.K.,
Council member of the International Meteor Organization)-
With a meteor,
The universe comes to Earth
And inspires us.
David Asher (U.K.), Valentin Grigore (SARM) and Nagatoshi Nogami (Japan)
at the IMC 2009
*
UNOFFICIAL MEMORIES FROM THE IMC 2009
-haikus by Nagatoshi Nogami (Japan,
member of the International Meteor Organization)
and photos by Valentin Grigore (President of SARM)
Gently vibrating sunset
reflects its figure
on calm sea softly
Over the glass of beer
talk joyfully
with friends being all smiles
In the silence of sunset
a clear wave by a boat
off the coast of Porec
-POST-SCRIPTUM-
*
HUMAN METEOR'S DESTINY
-by Dominic Diamant (SARM)-
Not my terrestrial life is the Odyssey
which I regret I did not write,
but a much finer one, from my dreams:
I am there with all my magical splendour,
with my holidays,
with my sublime soul jewels...
When I say that the Universe exists in me,
gravitating with enormous galaxies
as in an automatic process,
that is my pure truth from my pure thought.
I die and am born again
in the rustling of stars,
I unceasingly fly
in ample rhythms,
all miracles are mine
in that reality,
and I become more divine
towards infinity.
*
EXPRESSIONS OF LIGHT
(SARM’s “Perseids XVII” Event, Fagaras Mountains, Romania, 2009)
-photos by Valentin Grigore (President of SARM)-
*
Sometimes it is so hard to step on Earth...
-Vasilica Tudor (Steliana Gheorghe's sister)-
Special thanks to my friends from all over the world
(astropoets and IMC 2009 participants),
who have helped me to save (this time in an electronic form)
the continuity of the Astropoetry Shows.
Warm thanks to my aunt Vasilica Tudor ("Tanti Sila"),
who was a real super-mother for my mother and me
in the last weeks of a tragic time.
Inexpressible thanks to my mother Steliana (Stella) Gheorghe, who
(after so many years of devotion to my astropoetry passion),
although hospitalized in a critical state,
tried to convince me to go to the IMC 2009 in order to direct
the 13th Astropoetry Show.
It was for the first time when I could not respect such a desire.
It was her last astropoetical desire.
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
The fireball you saw in that morning was Stella-Steliana,
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe's mother,
going towards the stars.
-Danut Ionescu (participant at 3 IMCs;
the first publisher of Andrei Dorian Gheorghe's astropoems
in the Romanian astronomical world;
established in New Zealand since 2003)-
*
ROMANIAN MOUNTAIN FLOWERS FOR STELIANA
-photos by Valentin Grigore (President of SARM)-
*
ASTRO-CONFESSION:
MY LAST ANGEL OF ASTROPOETRY
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
After many years of quests,
in 1995,
with the support of Valentin Grigore, Danut Ionescu
and the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM,
I established publicly and officially for astronomical poetry
a theoretical and organizational concept entitled astropoetry
(as the essential part of a larger one, named cosmopoetry),
and I began to promote it in order to be recognized
not as a festive or occasional form of creation
(as it was till that moment),
but as a distinctive astronomical and literary genre.
Thus, afterwards I created an astropoetry movement.
In 1996 I initiated a yearly SARM Cosmopoetry Festival.
I coordinated a series of international printed anthologies,
Romanian Contemporary Astropoetry and Guests, between 1996 and 2002.
In 1997 I founded the yearly Astropoetry Show
of the International Meteor Conference.
(I also directed three other Astropoetry Shows
at NASA's Leonid Workshop in Israel in 2000,
at the European Convention of Science Fiction in Romania in 2001,
and at the International Astronomical Union Symposium 260
at UNESCO in Paris in 2009).
In 2002-2003 I initiated (with Alastair McBeath and Valentin Grigore)
the Meteor Contemporary Poetry Project
in the electronic archive of the International Meteor Organization.
I coordinated other (bigger or smaller) astropoetry anthologies for
the United Nations Society of Writers (Dialogue Through Poetry),
the European Southern Observatory (Venus Transit),
the Science Fiction Poetry Association (in a few essays),
Poets for Human Rights,
the mailing list of comet lovers,
Astropoetica.com (the magnificent web magazine edited in the U.S.A
by Emily Gaskin since 2003), etc.
But my dearest initiative has always been the Astropoetry Show (Astroshow)
of the International Meteor Conference, mainly based on meteor astronomy.
There, astropoetry as a spectacle in combination with other arts brought so much
joy, enthusiasm and happiness among the conference participants!
For this, it is the moment to confess again that I could make all these things
for astropoetry and especially for the Astropoetry Shows
thanks to my parents' educational, cultural, moral and material attitude
to my astropoetry passion.
They always were my best supporters, assistants and counsellors.
So that now I am honored to name posthumously my parents
as co-founders of the IMC Astropoetry Show,
although they were rather earthly angels of astropoetry.
My wonderful father Costica passed away on 2007 November 26.
We dedicated to his memory the 12th Astropoetry Show at the IMC 2008 in Slovakia.
My luminous and beautiful, frail and strong, generous and fond
mother Steliana (Stella)
continued to defeat her terrible disease and to sustain me till her last breath.
Her role was to remain close to me till our Astropoetry 2009 project
was recommended in the official web site of the International Year of Astronomy
(2009 August 14),
patronized by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO.
Probably, the highest recognition for astropoetry as a distinctive genre,
and particularly for my enormous work in this field.
On the background of my mother's incredible suffering,
that was her last important joy.
Also in August, when my mother was hospitalized,
she said to me:
"Do not leave me alone!"
And I tried to remain close to her till the end.
Inspired for the last time by Mother Steliana (Stella),
now it is my round to say to the people:
"Do not leave astropoetry alone!"
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe and Steliana Gheorghe
during the cultural excursion of the IMC 2000 in Pucioasa (Romania)
Photo: Nagatoshi Nogami (Japan)
Angels of Astropoetry:
Steliana Gheorghe and Costica Gheorghe in 2005
Photo: Nicolae Tudor (former Romanian laureate for photography in 1950s)
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe, Steliana Gheorghe and Danut Ionescu
in January 2008
Photo: Mihai Ionescu
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