Andrei Dorian Gheorghe - Nothing about SETI

NOTHING ABOUT SETI

An article by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe -
first published as
UFO-POETRY IN ROMANIA
(6th part of the Romanian Astronautic Poetry series)
in Star*Line
(Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association),
March/April 2007, 30.2, U.S.A.

This variant includes the
Romanian original version of Andrei Dorian Gheorghe's poems,
photographs by Gabriel Ivanescu

…and a question:
Astronomy is the “queen of sciences”.
Astrobiology is a branch of astronomy.
Could ufology be a branch of astrobiology?

In 1996 I collected all my “ufopoems” in an English/Romanian folder,
and I launched it at the first edition of the Cosmopoetry Festival of the
Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM.
It was an original initiative in Romania, but, unfortunately,
called by other cosmic fields (astronomical poetry, astromythology
and various traditions connected to astronomy),
I didn’t find time enough to make it known out of my country.
But now I think it could be a good idea to remember the most important lines
of that folder, which began with an “essential” definition:

Life is a fascinating UFO
created by the Big Bang.

(Viata este un OZN fascinant
creat de Big Bang.)

As many others, I was inspired by mysterious places, like in “Nazca”:

The teeth of the horse shone
like a big spotlight.
(Even if the flying saucer
had disappeared a long time ago,
the transcendental lights
still reflected in the beast.)

“Don’t bite me, horse!”
I shouted, seduced
by an ironical hope.

“Zock, zock, zock…”
I felt that brightness like a lance
progressively penetrating me…

“Don’t bite me, horse!”
I shouted scared.

“Zock, zock, zock…”
My flesh walls
like a slow collapse…

(Dintii calului straluceau
ca un reflector cu mii de lucsi -
desi farfuria zburatoare plecase demult,
luminile ei
inca se mai reflectau intr-insul.

-Tu nu musti, calule!-
am strigat, sedus
de o speranta ironica.

Tac, tac, tac…
Simteam stralucirea aceea ca pe o lance
strapungandu-ma milimetru cu milimetru.

-Tu nu musti, calule!-
am strigat intimidat.

Tac, tac, tac…
Peretii din mine
se prabuseau…)

After that I imagined even a… kidnapping:

To be abducted
by some playful aliens
and introduced
in an amazing flying machine…
To be integrally examined
and liberated like an
uninteresting animal…

Then to tell to your friends
that the missing time
was just a trip out of town…

Of course, this is a top
of modesty!

(Sa fii rapit
de extraterestri zglobii,
sa fii bagat
intr-o duba zburatoare,
sa-ti fie cercetata fiecare molecula
si sa fii eliberat ca un
animal neinteresant…

Iar apoi sa spui acasa
ca ai fost la o plimbare
in afara orasului…

Desigur, aceasta inseamna
un varf al decentei.)

I also tried a UFO-haiku:

hurried UFO;
a new eye of the sky
is nervously blinking

(OZN grabit;
un ochi nou al cerului
clipeste nervos)

Or a UFO-exclamation:

Oh, the guardian of other worlds…
and his face is a UFO!

(Ah, gardianul altor lumi
si chipu-i de OZN!)

And I didn’t avoid the folkloric inspiration,
as in the next… UFO-proverb:

You talk about UFOs, and the alien knocks on your door!

(Vorbesti de OZN-uri si extraterestrul la usa!)

And, of course, I will end with my favorite ufopoem from that cycle,
which I composed in 1984
and I incidentally read at Radio Romania in 1985,
in a broadcasting for students:

One morning
a drowned alien
was a dead fish in the sea.
His body looked like a man,
but he had a flat countenance
with an orifice in the center.

It could be mouth, eye, ear… -
said the perplex earthlings.
Or maybe all of them…!?

Finally, they placed him in a museum,
leaving to the future
the solution of the mystery.

They put a flower
on his face, concluding:
this misunderstood thing
could be excused
with an ornament.

(Intr-o dimineata
a fost pescuit in mare
un inecat extraterestru.
Semana la trup cu oamenii,
dar avea chipul plat,
tulburat doar de un orificiu.

Sa fie gura, ochi, ureche?-
s-au intrebat pamantenii.
Ori toate odata?

L-au depus pana la urma intr-un muzeu,
lasand veacurilor urmatoare
sansa de a lamuri misterul.

Pe fata i-au asternut o floare
ca si cum
ceea ce e de neinteles
poate fi scuzat
cu un ornament.)