ROMANIAN ASTROPOETRY HOUR
IN
UNESCO’S WORLD POETRY DAY
2002
or
SARM
IN
DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS
THROUGH POETRY READINGS 2002
Artwork: Adrian Macinca
*
Very impressed by the success of the 2001 edition
of the Dialogue Through Poetry project
(which included over 200 readings in 150 cities of the world),
in 2002 February 5th Andrei Dorian Gheorghe announced the
project’s leaders Larry Jaffe and Ram Devineni
about the SARM intention to organize 3 astropoetry readings in Romania
during UNESCO’s World Poetry Day.
Larry Jaffe’s answer was:
“Wonderful.”,
while Ram Devineni’s answer was just a little longer:
“Dear Andrei, this is a marvelous program. Congratulations…”
More than this, on March 11th,
the International Readings Coordinator Larry Jaffe
(whose grandmother emigrated from Romania to U.S.A. one century ago)
published in the Dialogue Through Poetry mailing list the following message:
“One of our new readings will actually be a series of readings in Romania
(land of some of my ancestors).
The coordinator, Andrei Dorian Gheorghe,
has written a short blurb to share his pleasure at participating in this global event.
You will find it below at the end of this message.
Ram and I thank you for enriching this planet!
Much love,
Larry
P.S. the message from Andrei Dorian Gheorghe in Romania
Astropoetry Hour
Since 1996, the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM
(founded in 1993 by Valentin Grigore)
have organized an yearly Cosmopoetry Festival
(founded by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe),
in which they read poems (from all over the world) about the Universe,
considering the Cosmos as a wonderful source of inspiration for earthly peace.
Astronomical poetry (astropoetry) is the topnotch part,
imagined as a fusion between “the queen of sciences” and “the queen of arts.”
The SARM will participate at Poetry Week with a program entitled
Romanian Astropoetry Hour in UNESCO’s Poetry Day,
including 3 astropoetry performances on March 21
in Bucharest (“Admiral Vasile Urseanu” Municipal Observatory),
Targoviste (Youth House)
and Bacau (Ferdinand College).
Finally, here are an astropoem by their cultural coordinator,
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe,
and a 7-line poem composed by 7 Romanian astropoets:
THE SOLAR SYSTEM’S HARMONIOUS PARLIAMENT
Giant Planets: Power Party.
Asteroids: Centre Party.
Terrestrial Planets: Moderate Opposition Party.
Satellites: Modesty Party.
Comets: Dynamic Opposition Party.
Meteors: Youth Party.
Nobody wants to change
The Divine Electoral Wish
Because the Sun
Is a luminous King.
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
CELESTIAL PEACE
Among my eyelids touched by stars, I mirror myself in the Universe
(Diana Maria Ogescu)
An immense joy floods me, opening my soul for heaven
(Tina Visarian)
My solitude flies among the galaxies on starry wings
(Iulian Olaru)
My body is water of fireball adorned by a photosphere of petals
(Dan Mitrut)
I become younger because the sky is the only mirror older than I am
(Adrian Sima)
The light takes fairy forms, penetrating me and shining my being
(Valentin Grigore)
More and more, again and again, the explosion of cosmic love
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)”
*
Then the 2002 edition of Dialogue Through Poetry continued during
the International Poetry Week, around UNESCO’s World Poetry Day (March 21st),
under the theme:
“Building a culture of peace and non-violence in the world through poetry”,
and Larry Jaffe published in the mailing list of the project,
as “Spotlight Readings”,
the most interesting chronicles of the events,
which he received from all continents.
Here are some of the charming places chosen by local coordinators
for the readings of that fascinating world adventure of poetry:
-The New School-Tischman Auditorium and National Arts Club in New York.
-The Prodigal Son in Hyannis, Massachusetts
(with the participation of some veterans of the war from Vietnam).
-The top of the highest peak in Southern California, Mount San Jacinto
(at over 10000 feet).
-The main sculpture hall of Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York
(which included an introductory “group chant to Mother Earth”).
-Mount Bordone, “in the heart of Italian Alps”.
-The “top roof of an office building” in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
-The city public library in Chiapas, Mexico.
-The top of Stranik, next to Zilina, Slovakia.
-Café Mundi in Austin, Texas
(completed by guitar songs and photographs of war damage and civil casualties).
-Borders Bookstore and The Maison Francaise in Oxford, U.K.
(completed by a German-Italian-English concerto of classical music).
-Arc Café in Dunedin, New Zealand
(with the participation of the NZ Society of Authors).
-A cultural centre and boutique in Madras India
(completed by “shurbaba” music).
-The Red Wheelbarrow bookshop in Paris, France
(including a “multi-lingual peace poem poster”,
and also being a “fundraiser for the Afghan Women’s Mission”).
-An old church/theatre in Cape Code, Massachusetts.
-A library in Adelaide, Australia.
-A lady’s house in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
(including blacks and whites, war veterans and children).
-An agricultural market in Belgrade, Serbia
(where the poets recited through megaphones).
-Poetry Nitro restaurant banquet club in Berkeley, California.
-Y.W.C.A. in Pottsville, Pennsylvania
(a reading sponsored by Stray Dog Poets).
-A building in a snowbound city (Owen Sound) in Ontario
(where a poet read a “poem translated into a dozen languages”).
-Russian State Duma in Moscow (!!!).
-Chinese University in Hong Kong
(the Hong Kong multimedia poetry,
including
“poetry, drama, CDROM productions, music,
traditional Chinese chanting of poetry, choral readings, video show,
slide show, pictorial projections”).
-A storefront, “community art space with an open microphone”
in Sudbury, Canada.
-Art Seasons Gallery in Singapore
(with local poets and others from Pakistan, India and China).
-Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood, California
(with the participation of Larry Jaffe).
-Helicon hall in Tel Aviv, Israel
(readings in Hebrew and Arabic, plus performances by
an Israeli Dancer, an Arab actress, and opera singers).
-Perkins Coffee Bar in Namaimo, BC.
-Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Alabama
(with student poets of this Institute and Holy Family High School,
and the Birmingham Youth Jazz Ensemble).
-The art gallery of Amn Asia in Lahore, Pakistan (completed by
“a forum for poetry defeating war”,
and a photographic exhibition, “Peace Images”).
-Daytona Beach Community College in Florida
(a musical-artistic-poetic reading).
-The Mount Irvine Community Hall in the Blue Mountains, Australia.
-Government House in Halifax, Nova Scotia
(with the participation of the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia
and the presence of representatives of the League of Canadian poets,
and also including video and audio trans-Atlantic links between
The High School Writers Circle from Auburn Drive High, Cole Harbour,
and students at Riksfjord Skole in Aukra, Norway.
-Press Club in Mumbay, India.
-St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
(a multicultural-multilingual reading in 12 languages).
-The Brunei Gallery at the School of Oriental and African Studies,
London University
(”a fitting venue for Poets from Three Continents”,
which came from 10 countries and read in 4 languages).
-St. Mary’s Church in Brampton, Ontario
(“a performance of the original script The Way of the Cross”,
including “choir, musicians, dancers and performers”).
-Shepherd’s Bush Library in London (an event that was organized by
Hammersmith & Fulham Performing Arts Officer and Banipal).
In this context, Larry Jaffe published in 2002 March 25th
among Spotlight Readings
the following report sent by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe:
Dear Larry Jaffe,
Our gratitude to you, Ram Devineni and the others,
for creating this magnificent dream, Dialogue through Poetry,
in which we could become real.
I would say that Astropoetry Hour
(organized by the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM)
in World Poetry Day
began on March 20, when Radio Romania (1st program) broadcasted my interview,
in which I mainly told about our triple event
and the Dialogue through Poetry project.
After that, on March 21,
there were about 50 astropoets and free speakers about the Cosmos
in our three astropoetry performances in three different towns
(under the blessing of the vernal equinox).
The astropoetry reading in Targoviste (Dracula’s former Capital), at Youth House,
was organized by Valentin Grigore and Diana Maria Ogescu,
and directed by a high school girl student (!), Tina Visarian,
under the following motto:
“Let you overrun with the state of sky”
(by Valentin Grigore, president SARM).
Astrophotographic projections and exhibitions (including Valentin Grigore’s
famous poster, State of Sky - tens of pictures from the earth to the sky)
adorned this show, and the presenters were a nice girl as Peace,
and a child as Inspiration.
An astropoetic drama about the solar system (by Tina Visarian too)
completed this event, including a lot of astral décor elements
(for example, the planets were symbolized by 9 balloons!).
After this performance -
which was promoted by the local (radio and TV) mass media -,
a group of astropoets and astronomers went out of town
for studying a “grazing occultation” (between the Moon and a star).
In Bacau, at “Ferdinand” College, there were many young astropoets
reciting around Dan Mitrut and Ionel Catalin Diaconu (organizers),
and projections of astroartworks (especially by Calin Niculae)
and astrophotographs (especially by Dan Mitrut) too.
The highlight of this reading - promoted through local Radio Alpha - was…
Dan Mitrut’s recital of astrofolk music,
and, obviously, the same complex astroartist gave the show motto:
“I am the unseen frontier between the Earth and the stars”.
In Bucharest (at the Municipal Observatory),
the reading was honored by some important personalities
in astronomy and cosmic culture
(for example, Dr. Harald Alexandrescu, coordinator of this observatory,
and Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator, 89 years old, ex-prisoner of consciousness
in the former totalitarian regime and ex-senator in the Romanian Parliament).
I also arranged a stand of Romanian astroartworks and astropoetry publications,
and began the event by reading your poem, Birth of Being.
My show motto was:
“He who is afraid of the darkness, loses his own light.”
All of these readings used Romanian electronic music as background.
What can I say finally?
Perhaps my astroproverb:
“A counsel for a supernova: Live your explosion!”
Or Tina Visarian’s verse:
“With focused eyes, you look amazed at the horizon.”
Or Ionel Catalin Diaconu’s meditation:
“The Universe watching us through its light: a starry sky.”
Or Dan Mitrut’s vision:
“The law-stars written in our souls, try our destinies.”
Or Calin Niculae’s wish (at the Bucharest Observatory on March 21):
“Happy Anniversary for the Vernal Equinox!
A new circle of time begins to surround our planet, and we must fill with joy.
Even if we don’t live as well as we want,
there are a lot of reasons of joy,
because we live in a beautiful world.”
Cosmic friendship,
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
(director of the SARM’s Cosmopoetry Festival, Romania)
Obviously, the general conclusion belonged to Larry Jaffe
(also in the Dialogue Through Poetry mailing list)
on April 8th :
“Thousands of poets participated in Dialogue Through Poetry all over the world
with readings from Moscow to Bucharest to Belgrade to Singapore
to Ontario to San Francisco to New York and Los Angeles, etc.
What an incredible event!”
*
On May 24th,
Larry Jaffe kindly gave by e-mail the following interview to Andrei Dorian Gheorghe,
which was first published in the Romanian national astronomical mailing list
“SARM”:
ADG:
Who are you, Larry Jaffe?
LJ:
My first most flippant answer is I am me.
The basic raw stripped down simplicity…
a creative soul…
a late bloomer finally realizing his dreams.
I am a father, grandfather as well.
I am a poet, an artist.
I sometimes scream this... sometimes whisper who I am into the wind.
I hate oppression in every form.
I abhor man’s use of violence to settle disagreements
when communication should be taking place.
I put my poetry on the line to express these beliefs.
ADG:
What are poetry and Dialogue through Poetry for you?
LJ:
Dialogue through Poetry is a most important project
and perhaps the most important of my life.
It engages people in the conversation of poetry.
It stretches beyond borders and touches peoples’ souls throughout the world.
Poets feel connected in a way they have never been connected previously,
linked to each other with common purpose and ideal.
As an artist, I think it is imperative that we strive to make a better world
and inject soul and spirit into our culture… our society.
So Dialogue personifies me and my artistic goals.
ADG:
What is your opinion about the SARM participation in Dialogue Poetry 2002?
LJ:
I was and am so excited to have SARM participation.
Partially, it is my familial roots of being half-Romanian
and the rest is the complete enthusiasm and embracing of the Dialogue purpose
by SARM.
My kudos and blessing to you.
ADG:
Supplementary: some poetic thoughts about the Universe.
LJ:
In my early days of writing poetry,
I concluded that life is a poem and I was going to write it.
In further exploration over these many years,
I have further determined that poetry is not about life but is life,
and that writers write about things and poets write things, i.e. life.
Poetry forms an aesthetic bridge to all cultures.
It is the poets that speak directly from the heart and soul without pretense.
It is this that we should embrace.
Our communities.
Our fellows.
The International Readings Coordinator completed his interview
with the poem below,
also first published in the SARM mailing list:
Earth Chant
-by Larry Jaffe-
1. call to the kindred
through rising tides of hypocrisy
through a life full of puppeted figures
as false preachers cry animal not spiritual
one call needs be made
one call to kindred beings
who have not surrendered honor
nor nobility of purpose
one call to kindred spirits
seeking growth not decay
creation not destruction
connection instantly conveyed
linked in unified bond
spiritual affirmation
one call to laughter
2. Soul Keepers
we are the keepers of the soul
we are the soul keepers
we the poets,
protectors of gallant men
we are the keepers of the soul
we are the soul keepers
we don’t mortgage our
lives with lies
we are the keepers of the soul
we are the soul keepers
we are the friends
of the spiritual universe
we are the keepers of the soul
we are the soul keepers
walking through violent lands with defiance
we preach with no god on our side
we are the keepers of the soul
we are the soul keepers
we say the words
that cut through cruelty with icy disdain
we are the keepers of the soul
we are the soul keepers
*
But things did not stop here.
Soon after, Rattapallax Press from New York published an impressive anthology
of the project, Dialogue Through Poetry 2002:
422 pages for which Editors were Ram Devineni and Lina Srivastave,
and Publisher was also Ram Devineni,
The anthology was also honored by a foreword
by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura (Japan).
SARM was included in this anthology with
Andrei Dorian Gheorghe’s essay below,
which was both
a history of SARM’s astropoetry movement
and a trip in the Universe on some of the most beautiful astroverses
by SARM’s astropoets:
BACAU, BUCHAREST, TARGOVISTE -
ROMANIAN ASTROPOETRY HOUR
in
UNESCO’s WORLD POETRY DAY 2002
(a cosmic concord manifesto,
or between a peace essay and an astropoetry anthology)
-Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-
“Dialogue through Poetry?
Favour for Humanity!”
(ADG’s note: a “tipuritura” is a Romanian traditional 2-line poem)
(1) the beginning
The Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM greet all of you.
Lord Byron said:
"...stars are the poetry of heaven."
We think that the sky's harmony could be the most beautiful and peaceful
source of inspiration for the human being.
But today so many people forget to look at the sky...!
Before participating at the wonderful project
“Dialogue among Civilizations through Poetry Readings”-2002
with 3 astropoetry performances (in Bacau, Bucharest and Targoviste),
the SARM have tried their own way for creating a better world.
A small way, but now crowned by becoming a small part in the efforts
of UN Society of Writers for
“building a culture of peace and non-violence in the world through poetry”.
Being a special way, we think that it needs a special presentation at the beginning,
not through a SARM normal anthology of peace poems,
but through a combination of essay and verse
(present at the World Poetry Day celebration).
So, dear friends, you can try this concord manifesto…
Since old times, the Cosmos has been very present in the Romanian poetic soul.
For example, the Romanian national myth-ballad, Miorita-The Little Ewe
(collected by Vasile Alecsandri), compares death with a cosmic wedding:
"A star fell/ At my wedding party,/ The sun and moon/ Carried my coronet, /(…)/
And the stars were my torches..."
Or verses by the Romanian national poet, Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889):
"The icon of the star which died/ Is climbing slowly in the sky./
It was when we didn't see it,/ Today we see it, but it isn't."
Or, at the beginning of the XXth century, verses by two
Romanian astronomers and poets:
"Sometimes a comet appears in constellations,/ Eclipsing even the Moon..."
(Gabriel Donna, author of "Sonnets for Urania")
"... New suns and double suns/ Graviting grandiosely and elliptically in the Chaos..."
(Alexandru Anestin, brother of the greatest Romanian popularizer of astronomy, Victor Anestin)
Or verses by Lucian Blaga (1895-1961),
the greatest Romanian poet of the XXth century:
"O, stars, you don't have any target on your way,/
But perhaps for this you conquer immensities..."
Later, in 1993, Valentin Grigore founded
the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy-SARM
(Societatea Astronomica Romana de Meteori),
launching an original concept: astronomy-culture-art-education-society.
He also founded the yearly cultural-astronomical event "Perseide"
near the town of Targoviste, including:
an astronomical summer school, cultural debates and excursions,
a national astronomical colloquium, sky observations,
an astronomical contest for youth,
expeditions for studying the Perseid meteor shower...
Valentin Grigore composed even a motto for the "Perseide" event:
"Come with us to admire/ The splendors of the starry sky./
Look at the bright stars and discover/ He Who Created The Light."
In 1996, impressed by this exceptional medium, I founded there
the Festival of Romanian and Universal Cosmopoetry,
for which I composed the following motto:
"In the House of the Universe,/ Say: It's mine!/
But, talking to the stars,/ You must shine."
(2) the festival
"In a romance of unleashed time,/ Joy loads my soul like a fairy./
Stars support me and I dissipate clouds,/ Sliding on orbits of poetry."
(Stefan Berinde, a Romanian professional astronomer)
In our vision (developed from my 1996 Cosmopoetry Manifesto,
launched at the cultural-astronomical event "Perseide" in Targoviste),
cosmopoetry represents mainly a re-creation of poetry
by using elements from outer space.
Certainly, cosmopoetry is a larger term, in which astropoetry is the topnotch part,
representing a fusion between "the queen of sciences" and "the queen of arts".
And the SARM's Cosmopoetry Festival has been adorned by all arts
on astronomical themes: graphics, music, drama, computer art, origamy,
sculpture, photography, painting, dance, film, collage...
And I must tell you that our Cosmopoetry Festival has received submissions
from all over the world, and the foreign (classical or contemporary) poems are also
read out here, and usually published in my bulletin of international astropoetry
in Romanian, "astropoezia zilei-the daily astropoem"
(included in the Romanian national astronomical electronic list "SARM").
“I never found the darkness’ secret/ And I never knew, my God, to produce it.”
(Florian Saioc, a Romanian journalist)
The 4th edition of the Cosmopoetry Festival, in 1999, was international
in the English language, because the SARM hosted about 250 participants
from 4 continents in our cultural-astronomical-touristic project
EuRoEclipse Perseids 99 (during August's total solar eclipse).
On its stage, there were present astroartists from
Romania, USA, Canada, UK, France, Holland and South Africa,
and the Showroom of Astronomical Arts, Photos and Publications of this event
exhibited works from about 30 countries!
The hero of this edition was our Romanian fellow countryman, Dan Mitrut,
the most complex artist which we ever saw: poet, playwright, mythologist,
graphician, sculptor, composer, singer, photographer,
and also a very good meteor observer
and popularizer of astronomy.
His motto for this event was:
"Eclipsed light-/ Galactic usage./
Lightened eclipse-/ Provoked apocalypse."
After that,
since 2000 the Festival of Romanian and Universal Cosmopoetry
has developed a new form - a few galas in different places during one year,
three of them being major:
-at the beginning of every year, at the "Admiral Vasile Urseanu"
Municipal Observatory in Bucharest (this observatory was built in 1910
in a form of a yacht, being an architectural masterpiece);
-in the summer time, during the "Perseide" event
(its new place becoming Corbasca, Bacau County);
-the Laureates Gala at the end of every year, usually in a mountain place
(this gala being hosted in 2001 by the Vanatorul-Hunter Camp, 920m alt.
in the Bucegi Mountains, and involving an astroshow - poetry, drama, music, films,
short astronomical presentations, photographical projections - of 8 hour duration!)
“Take a protostar,/ Get down its peel,/ Mix it with ½ sweet nebula/
And add 7 pulsars/ For an innocent flavour…”
(Lucian Boboc, a Romanian school master)
This is the SARM's way: to attract people for the sky's beauties
not only through astronomical events and results,
but also through poetry and arts!
And we think this thing serves for the noble target of a
"dialogue among civilizations through poetry readings"
and for
“building a culture of peace and non-violence in the world”!
So I invite you on the web to visit a Romanian original electronic album
of astral photograph, computer art and poetry,
"Echoes of Light" by Calin Niculae (another hero of the Cosmopoetry Festival,
and one of the three Romanian major astro-photo-poets
near Valentin Grigore and Dan Mitrut).
And SARM's main address.
And perhaps to read a poem by me (which gave an important impulse to the birth
of the Cosmopoetry Festival), entitled Hypothesis:
“The grandmother of the Universe/ sitting in her castle behind the sky/
is knitting clouds./ Then she throws them away/ through the window.//
The sons of the abysses/ are picking stars/ from the bottom of the seas./
Then they trade them/ in the intergalactic markets.//
Famous astronomers try to explain/ the cosmology of matter./
In the meantime a child/ from another state of existence/
is keeping in his hands/ the whole Universe,/ as if it were a toy.”
(3) some results
“Space soldiers are parading,/ trampling on the sky/
with their boots of grass leather,/ for the Earth not to be crushed,/
not to be unraveled/ by a possible war of flowers."
(Adrian Sima, a Romanian student in physics)
It is true! Poets are soldiers of peace!
"What is beyond the sun and stars?... Our dreams./ They are made from
experience, imagination, hope... and from the most precious fortune: feelings./
In spite of which we represent, in spite of the distances,
we are together if we feel the same./
Perhaps you are in this dream too."
(Calin Niculae, a Romanian photographer)
The Romanian astropoetry movement, born from
the cultural-astronomical event "Perseide" and its Cosmopoetry Festival,
has had interesting international results, in its endeavour
for lowering celestial peace into the human souls.
"Bewitched glow worms sewed the sky through sunbeams./ Somewhere at an edge,
the cup is pouring out/ And the sky harmony is sprinkling the earth."
(Diana Maria Ogescu, a Romanian student in administration)
Romanian astropoetry was promoted through over 20 slim anthologies in English
(translated by me, edited by me and the SARM, and printed mainly through
the efforts of Valentin Grigore, president SARM).,
which were exhibited or offered at astronomical events patronized by
International Meteor Organization, International Astronomical Union, NASA,
Vatican Observatory, NATO, (American) National Science Foundation, etc.,
and at varied cultural events:
Fair of European Youth Organizations-Bucharest 1998,
Meeting of International Resource and Education Network-Chattanooga 1998,
Congress of Astronauts-Bucharest 1999,
International Conference of Non-Government Organizations-Seoul 1999,
Celebration of Associativity Law Centenary - European Parliament, Bruxelles 2001,
European Congress of Science Fiction-Capidava 2001, etc.
(In many cases, Romanian astropoems were parts of the
SARM astroart exhibitions in Romania and abroad.)
"Celestial spheres,/ divine music/ and dance of galaxies."
(Michaela Al. Orescu, a Romanian multilateral artist)
Also, these anthologies have attracted many contributors
from other countries.
For example, Romanian Contemporary Astropoetry 2000 & Guests was
the unique astropoetry anthology exhibited at the triennial
Congress of the International Astronomical Union,
Manchester, 2000, August,
and published 121 authors from 5 continents (61 of them being Romanian).
"To see stars in infinity/ Rising from the breath of the sacred Word,/
And living in space like some recluses in the spirit."
(Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator, a Romanian lawyer)
So... submissions for the SARM's astropoetry anthologies
are welcomed from anywhere...
"I know a miracle/ great like the Universe;/ it's a man, it's me!"
(Dominic Diamant, a Romanian accountant)
Romanian astropoems were published by International Meteor Organization,
NASA, Israeli Astronomical Association, National Observatory of Japan,
Spanish Society of Meteor and Comet Observers,
Science Fiction Poetry Association (USA), New Hope International (UK),
The Dragon Chronicle (the international journal of dragonlore),
Hilltop Press (UK), International Paradoxistic Literary Movement,
Forward Press (UK), The Brobdingnagian Times (Ireland),
Eight Hand Gang (UK), Cambridge Conference Network, etc.
"Next to us only one sun radiates/ And our Universe is immense."
(Zigmund Tauberg, a Romanian teacher in mathematics)
This movement was noted in Popular Astronomy (UK),
Ciel et Espace (France), Heavens (Japan), etc.
"Did you ever see a meteor in its whole splendor,
appearing in the firmament?/
This example of unrepeatable beauty could be the first step for
enriching spiritually the human being."
(Dan Mitrut, a Romanian lawyer)
The most spectacular manner to promote this art out of Romania has been
our astropoetry performances (helped by my dumbshows,
Dan Mitrut's astrofolk music and Mihai Dumitrescu's electronic music).
"Man and meteor.../ The sky is shaken/ of their love."
(Iulian Olaru, a Romanian engineer)
They were given by SARM (under my direction) at
the International Meteor Organization Conferences 1997-2001.
(In 1998, Commission 22 of the International Astronomical Union
assisted our show,
and in 2000, in Pucioasa, Romania, we organized
a small international festival of meteor poetry).
"I gladly looked at the wave/ of the blazes coming to me/
and I felt myself sinking/ in the meteoric sea."
(Tina Visarian, a Romanian high school student)
A "historical" astropoetry show was given by SARM (under my direction too)
at Leonid MultiInstrument Aircraft Campain Workshop, organized by NASA
in Tel Aviv in 2000 April
(when Valentin Grigore and I recited short Leonid poems
by 15 Romanian authors).
"Flights of lights/ Whispers of stars/ The sky in the night/ Embracing the Earth."
(Valentin Grigore, president SARM)
Dan Mitrut directed another Romanian astropoetry performance at the
multicultural exchange of the International Ecological Camp,
Vienna, 2001, July,
and me too, at the European Congress of Science Fiction,
Capidava, 2001, August.
But I remember especially an act of our show at the
International Meteor Organization Conference in Cerkno, Slovenia,
when I recited:
"I found a new job./ I throw meteors./ They don't hurt anybody
through violence and crime./ Only through beauty and love."
This was in 2001 September 22...
(4) universal trip of peace
For creating a world of peace on Earth,
we should understand the place of our planet in the Cosmos.
After I tried to present the main kinds of (astro)poetry performances
realized by the SARM in the past, I invite you to travel in the Universe
by reading Romanian contemporary lines, written by members of the same SARM
(all of them participating at Poetry Week 2002 by reciting astropoems,
or included in astropoetry publications which were exhibited with this opportunity).
We have tried to create this peaceful feeling at every poetry event
organized by us and, of course, especially at our three-astropoetry readings
in UNESCO’s World Poetry Day.
You can also consider this trip as a golden booklet of
Romanian contemporary astropoetry, or a cosmic epopee
(in which the main hero is the Romanian soul),
realized in honour of the “Dialogue through Poetry” project.
START!
"Vastness -/ the pencil which I use to write/ about the Universe."
(Diana Maria Ogescu)
The Cosmos is immense and…
"Are we the children of the Universe?/ In this case, we must know our parents!"
(Danut Ionescu)
Was the Big Bang at first?
The primordial explosion creating a Universe in expansion (or pulsing)?
And the equivalent of God's Biblical Words: “To be light!”...?
This is the main theory accepted today.
"Creation was committed/ in the song of the light."
(Florian Saioc)
"The game of the light/ and the darkness-/ Eternity."
(Michaela Al. Orescu)
"The Universe is still expanding,/ The explosion is continual,/ We are alive!"
(Zigmund Tauberg)
Two major elements have appeared.
"Space- the physical article of infinity./ Time- its logical article."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
We can be more explicit.
"Space sings for long, troubled after me,/ Time shivers, spurred by a strange thrill…"
(Dominic Diamant)
"There is the second -/ grey tombstone/ of the Universe."
(Gelu-Claudiu Radu)
"Time and space, two savage snakes,/ have crossed me,/
forcing me to materialize myself in the infinite."
(Victor Chifelea)
And, after these essential and severe rules have installed,
we can see the sky adorned by wonderful lights.
"This mischievous void/ throwing stars to us."
(Lucian Boboc)
"The stars appear at stands/ to bid their magnitudes."
(Adrian Sima)
"O, double and variable stars!/ What a fascinating competition!/
Coloured super-balloons/ of harmony and ardour!"
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
“How many stars are in the night?/ So many looks for giving us a presence…”
(Andreea Munteanu)
“Stars are hearts of seconds,/ Stars are bodies of miracles,/
In stars I find soul of light.”
(Marius Istrate)
"A big star? A metaphor of pride."
(Stefan Oprea)
And, if there is a question...
"Who? Who is closing us/ in the light?"
(Mihai Voinea)
...There is an answer too.
"The face of eternal God/ is in the starry dust."
(George Coanda)
The stars were
"Constellations appear, constellations disappear,/
He who understand them becomes better."
(Dan Mitrut)
Thus, we can localize easier the Deep Sky Objects in the tridimensional Cosmos.
"Galaxies, nebulae, starry clusters,/ all these big balls of light amaze me/
and make me think of the supreme ball of light,/ a giant ball: the Universe!"
(Emil Neata)
We can meditate about the birth of the stars...
"Nebulae appearing serially,/ oases of steam forecasting/ new births in matter."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
.
…About other starry things...
"Supernova -/ what an enthusiasm!/ A sacred geyser in space!"
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
"Quasars-/ signals addressed to the spheres/
by the unseen troubadours of the darkness."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
...Or about the end of the stars...
"Pulsars-/ indiscreet variations of space's erosion."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
"A man is also a star,/ he ticks in pain and brightness,/
and, after his death,/ a black hole becomes his shadow."
(Iulia Apetri)
People... they occupy a very small place in a galaxy called the Milky Way.
"The vertebral column of the Canopy/ wetted my socks with milk,/
and in the breast bone (without ribs)/ of the sky,/ my heart pulsates the night."
(Adrian Sima)
"I was forgotten up there,/ among the stars,/ in the care of the Milky Way."
(Lucian Boboc)
"The Milky Way -/ rain of stars/ washing the darkness."
(Catalina Mitrut)
"The Milky Way/ eternally absorbing/ our love fever."
(Dominic Diamant)
"I'd like to lose myself through the Milky Way,/ only for kissing every starry bud."
(Cristina Nicoleta Dorobat)
“Mortals with clothes of Milky Way stepped over shards of stars.”
(Mihaela Manolache)
"My galaxy/ and its black heart;/ I have a little sun."
(Michaela Al. Orescu)
"Our Solar System's neighbours/ lighten our nights and provoke us,/
but we lead our life/ like an endless play."
(Teodora Plaesu)
Has our solar system an identity card? I think so...
"Place of birth and address: the Milky Way./ Ancestors: the Big Bang./
Personal description: a sacred body,/ nine planets and tens of satellites,/
thousands of asteroids and comets,/ gamboling meteoric matter./
Liberated by the Police Department/ of the Series of the Principal Stars."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
In this “zone”, all the things are graviting around a star
composed from Hydrogen and Helium.
"His Luminosity the Sun."
(Tina Visarian)
"The Sun -/ dream of planets,/ original sin of space lured by time,/
blind spot carried by the absolute, eternal, unconscious darkness."
(Dan Mitrut)
"The Sun-/ star of the coquettish provocations,/
an irradiant apple/ with small tender spots."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
"The Sun, this living globe,/ is the flower of the Universe."
(Mariana Zarnescu)
The most important bodies around it are the planets.
"Planets…/ Dancing in circle,/ drops of liquid rock -/ loss of time.”
(Ovidiu Cioroianu)
"Planets-/ antenna-flowers/ consuming slowly/
one reflected shining flow/ and the other incidental."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
And if we would visit the planets, we would be:
"stifled by Mercury's warmth",
"wounded by Venus' dust",
"amazed by Mars' channels"...
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
Between Mars and Jupiter there is a belt of small planets.
"Asteroids - mutinous candidates/ for the planetary hierarchies."
(Dan Mitrut)
"Asteroids -/ secondary effects from Creation,/ dandelions orbiting differently/
in the wind of gravitation."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
"Asteroids - orphan children of the Universe./
Jupiter and Mars have opened an orphanage for them."
(Izabela Boros)
"Gulped by/ the greedy asteroids,/ I'm happy."
(Anca Buhus)
After that, we would be:
"overwhelmed with Jupiter's stateliness",
"tangled by Saturn's rings",
"confused by Uranus' strange rotation",
"dissipated by Neptune's winds",
"touched by Pluto's cosmic frail walk"...
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
Or, who knows…?
But the life planet, our planet, is Terra, placed between Venus and Mars.
“Your Highness, wake up to die in the Cosmos -/ I’ll show you the round Earth.”
(Marinela Visinescu)
"In the mysterious Universe,/ the Earth is a dwarf./
And then you think:/ O, God, am I so little?"
(Tina Visarian)
Here, on this planet, we are living, working and loving.
"A human destiny on a celestial earth."
(Sergiu Olteanu)
"The beautiful Earth -/ Eden selected by God."
(Adrian Negoescu)
“And you, little innocent child,/
Thinking of the mystery of life coming on Earth…”
(Catalin Bunofschi)
“After the ritual of the first fruit from the plough,/our fear-stricken going
has become a creed/ orientated by the compass…”
(Irina Florescu Valvoi)
“We are people under the Big Chariot,/ and are not scared of any falling spot!”
(Alin Tolea)
“It is not only a craziness to run after a sunbeam./ It is even youth!”
(Alexandru Cristian Milos)
“Gulfs of light measure the illusion of a wild view/ in our earth body.”
(Miruna Muresanu)
“We are so alone… an insignificant point in the Universe’s immensity.
Us and God.”
(Traian Badulescu)
“O, sacred Earth, giving aims to me…”
(Andreea Ceasar)
"First love: Axis Mundi./ Witness: the Moon."
(Raluca Antonica)
“Love, you can send me the breath of caress/ for the Universe which covers me.”
(Andreea Draguleasa)
“You came to me with silver flowers and sweet fragrances./
A star fell from the sky,/ carrying your name, my love.”
(Adrian Cornea, from his new song, launched on March 21 in the Bacau reading)
“Let’s dream for seeing around us./ Let’s think we are a game of dice/
over the spring.”
(Iulian Banu)
Seven planets (from nine) have satellites.
The Earth has only one, so...
"We have nights haunted by the Moon."
(Tina Visarian)
"Big Moon, what a wonder,/ there is the shadow of a god in your eye!"
(Dan Mitrut)
"Like a spot in the bell of the twilight,/ the Moon calls the darkness in the sky."
(Adrian Sima)
"Full Moon -/ the eye of Polyphemus/ grazing our dreams."
(Mircea Alexandru Popa)
“Lunar desert,/ I would have wanted to tell how much I love you!/
But you died, Moon Flower,/ and the stars have grown pale…”
(Cornel Apetroaiei)
But if we would be on the Moon, we could say:
"Here and now, the atmosphere is absent,/ and space particles
have a savage fall./ Only the Earth seems like/ a blue promise."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
Back on Earth, we are surrounded by a living and blue atmosphere.
And, looking at the sky, we can see a lot of beauties.
"The constellated sky is writing breviaries."
(Vicenzio Ichim)
“Trite testimonies of the immense Universe.”
(Eliza Trandafir)
"Music of spheres -/ elliptic rhythm of constellations."
(Dan Mitrut)
"Cascades from heaven."
(Ionut Ilesoi)
"Stars sacrificing themselves on the altar of dawn,/ for reviving at twilight again."
(Valentin Grigore)
"Halo in the night./ The Moon catches at stars/ her bride veil."
(Iulian Olaru)
"Celestial rainbow/ girdled a precious coronet/ on Terra's forehead."
(Michaela Al. Orescu)
"A lightning made me understand that/ stateliness is ephemeral too."
(Gabriel Ivanescu)
“A simple cloud/ obstinately showing us/ how far we are of all.”
(Roxana Petcu)
"The day is a sweet twilight for the stars."
(Dan Mitrut)
"Immortal zodiacal light!/ Divine celestial light,/ in union and competition/
with the noble Milky Way!"
(Vasile Micu)
“I made myself dizzy turning me around the Polar Star.”
(Aura Savin)
"Now the rainbow is down,/ but there is something climbing me up -/
the wind carrying me to the charming world/ of so many tales."
(Monica Nastase-Marcu)
"Breach in clouds -/ the Creator's hand/ weaves light."
(Iulian Olaru)
"Celestial showers of lineal light."
(Ion Moraru)
"Our souls throb with every sunset/ and don't saturate hanging/
the clouds' symphony of colours/ during the morning aurora."
(Valentin Grigore)
“My dreams flow among the stars in major harmonies.”
(Andreea Nanu)
"Watch in the Sun:/ thieves of planets are waiting for/ a betrayal from clouds./
Unexpected end:/ drops of light on the dew of flowers."
(Dan Mitrut)
"Sometimes, in the sky, there flies a wind more coloured."
(Calin Niculae)
“Did you ever see the Rainbow?/ Me, for instance, I saw IT”
(Lucian Ionescu)
"The god of lightnings - father of light-,/ walked on a path in the night./
He was rather white than sad,/ he was rather a fireball than the Sun."
(Dan Mitrut)
“Looking at the infinite,/ I return to an astral time.”
(Sergiu Olteanu)
We can see various occultations and conjunctions too.
"A planet occulting a star,/ or hero Ulysses
blinding cyclop Polyphemus/ one more time."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
"Once, I saw a star pouncing upon the Moon./ Celestial war!
I said,/ looking at the great clenching."
(Gabriel Ivanescu)
"Inferior conjunctions:/ somewhere in infinity,/ a step in three!"
"Superior conjunctions:/ flying disputes/ arbitrated by the Sun."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
Certainly, the sky offers other kind of disputes and wars:
not through violence, but through harmony.
And we can admire solar and lunar eclipses.
"Painted by the Moon,/ the Sun shows us the wonder:/ he is a Phoenix bird."
(Ionel Catalin Diaconu)
"At a lunar eclipse,/ it is normal that
the Earth,/ a bigger body,/ shades the Moon."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
And there are those space bodies with head and long tail...
"Comets for galaxies are like thoughts for people:/
all of them pass quickly, but they never abandon you."
(Elena Sorescu)
"Giant comets disheveled their tails,/ roving through the galaxy./
They were mad of joy."
(Diana Maria Ogescu)
"Comets appear on evening roads,/ waltzing on stilts to their own crucifixion."
(Adrian Sima)
"Comet - astral escutcheon,/ ball of burning ice,/ mane of sidereal lion,/
aroma of girdled soul.../ and the desert place
remained on the orbit-remembrance."
(Dan Mitrut)
“When the rain and clouds decide to leave the sky alone,
the comet seems to be quite pretty.”
(Alexandru Conu)
"Comets-/ daughters of light/ growing younger space/ and caressing time."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
“It deserves to see a rare comet (with a clear blue colour
and a tail of one degree) even in a dirty sky.
After that, good bye for hundreds of years!”
(Ovidiu Vaduvescu)
O, but here we have a serious problem!
“Fighting against the light polution, we fight for freedom and peace in the sky!”
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
Some comets, outrunning a lot of particles, give birth to a trilogy:
meteoroid, meteor, meteorite.
"The Judge-Universe sentenced a poor meteoroid to die./
Rebel, this meteoroid tricked, becoming a meteor in the sky,/
and reviving in other space as a meteorite,/ strangled by the world."
(Tina Visarian)
Let's be more detailed.
"Meteoroids -/ quintessence of light/ in clothes of stone."
(Dan Mitrut)
"Meteoroids orbiting blindly..."
(Stefan Berinde)
"Out in the void,/ meteoroids wait for/ a bright love touch/
with the atmosphere..."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
And thus, through this magical touch,
we can see the most beautiful night shows:
meteors!
"Planets are angry,/ stars are falling,/ it's raining meteors,/
the maximum is near,/ do not alarm yourself,/ we'll do it."
(Ionut Dumitrache)
"It's just a rain of meteors - somebody answers me./ But for me,/
it is much more."
(Tina Visarian)
"Meteors - insects of light/ buzzing in the nights/ without a full moon."
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
"Are the meteors immortal songs,/ guiding us to eternity?/
Or just dead stones,/ roving through the Universe/ and reviving,/
caressed by the sweet kiss of the wind?"
(Eliza Trandafir)
"Hurried meteor -/ a whisper of a comet/ between the sky and man"
(Paul Boboc)
“It is the merry meteor passing rebel/ next to a nice star,/
or through a nebula.”
(Daniela Milea)
"I saw you, wild fireball,/ beautiful like the pain of a sunset."
(Sergiu Dobos)
“Meteor-/ son of comet,/ adopted by Earth.”
(Catalin Spranceana)
"Old meteor,/ what did you meet in the celestial abysses?"
(Sandu Marcu)
"Meteors-/ crusades of the galactic children/ hitting the Earth./
All of them, anonymous elements/ on the orbit of Atmos."
(Dan Mitrut)
"Meteors carry fast relay races/ to the clusters of stars, suns and planets."
(Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator)
"Deep sky... identical after years and years./
But for a meteor.../ the second is important."
(Valentin Grigore)
“Luminous trails shining for a moment,/ a fantastic waste
made by the Universe in the atmosphere,/(…)/
silver trails coming to our Earth/ like an approach
sent us by the Universe.”
(Zigmund Tauberg)
If we have a lucky life, we can catch even a Leonid storm.
"What a wonderful night!/ Thousands of Leonid meteors so nice/
Fly just like some glow worms./ Are we in Paradise?"
(Dimitrie Olinici)
Or, at least a lot of Perseid meteors.
“From the constellation of proud Perseus,/ Meteors appear - heroes of sky.”
(Florin Leu)
Some people collect small cosmic stones (meteoritic fragments).
“What a deep mystery is this uncommon stone!/ I wish that it
to tell me if my life/ is also pulled out from the infinite.”
(Mihai Dumitrescu)
Following all these wonders...
"I feel I cannot sin through death."
(Codrin Mardare)
“Do not wait for me,/ I’ll linger a little/ among the stars.”
(Florentin Smarandache)
But, what is the Universe, however?
“Cosmos -/ I always thought about it, and I never could define it…”
(Daniel Damiean)
“Cosmos -/ another way for understanding,/ another step for daring…”
(Ionut Toader)
“Spirit of Universe…/ shackled by a supernova,/
it chisels the going of beam…”
(Razvan Burleanu)
“The Creator plunges like a stone over his countings…”
(Bogdan Chirica)
“The Universe is day and night, light and darkness,
crying of whispers, crystal clear ocean.”
(Alin Iventa)
“Cosmos - overearth keeping the equilibrium…”
(Costica Gheorghe)
“I don’t know the Universe’s seed./ I don’t know anything which
could wake me up from this dream,/
in which I wish to discover/ a feeling, an image, a truth.”
(Elena Sorescu)
Finally, we can be philosophical…
"Like a meteor frisking in the sky,/ the man too -/ an ephemeral fireball."
(Adrian Sima)
"Shooting star I'll be lost in the flow of Genesis/
Like a thrill absorbed by an infinite song."
(Dominic Diamant)
“The Universe dreams universes which sleep./
And we are parts: stars, meteors…”
(Mihai Dascalu)
"Your star will remain untouched/ like a hand open to eternal tomorrow."
(Constantin Dumitrescu-Cunctator)
But, preferably, let's be optimistic.
“Mild Urania, you… immortal!”
(Ioana Grigore)
“Astronomy is so nice in its poetic form!”
(Harald Alexandrescu)
“Looking at the sky… it climbs us to something sacred, beautiful, pure…
to the Creator.
People, do only good deeds!”
(Steliana Gheorghe)
"The light will come again,/ and the dust from its crown/ will be called:/ RECONCILIATION."
(Emanuela Ignatoiu-Sora)
*
*
*
It is important to add that in 2002
(declared by UNESCO as the International Year of Mountains),
Rattapallax Press from New York
created another global project (allied with Dialogue Through Poetry),
Poetry on the Peaks,
for which they invited poets and mountaineers from all over the world
to organize poetry readings on mountain peaks.
The results were truly amazing,
some enthusiasts climbing and reading poems
even on the highest continental peaks.
The Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy (SARM)
was the most active group in this world project
by organizing 20 astropoetry readings in Romania during 2002,
and received a precious award:
an electronic anthology with all its own readings,
published by Rattapallax Press
and entitled
Astropoetry on the Peaks
http://www.cosmopoetry.ro/romanianastropoetryhour/astropoetry.pdf
*
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