"this is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats"
In the irascible search for life the faint twinkling of distant stars expose giant globes of gaseous ferocity; their inferred magnitude drifting too close to their sun, falling like Icarus into a labyrinth of tidal force. As the searing heat scorches the barren sky, estranged metals disperse into the …
Perched on the edge of perception – Six concentric rings of water, ice, And dust rotate. To the untrained eye you appear Frozen in time. An ancient halo of steadfast Proportions. But in between the sheets of rock And air your certainty is Wavering. There’s a push and a …
Within the cradle of a burning core, You wither down and find yourself well worn; As untold pressures crush and shape and bore, Your substance is assaulted, broke and torn. Then just as you think you can take no more, Through flames and righteous heat you are reborn; An all-consuming …
Within the burning heart of molten rocks, Great pressures forced your brilliance to shine; Inclusions marred your body with their pocks, A brownish hue now laced with olivine. Before you ever had a chance to grow, An interstellar pileup set you free; Thrown out into a cold and blank tableau, …
When looking out into the starry night The blackness that we see is just a mask; This shrouded veil conceals our darkest light, And stores our nameless theories in its cask. It’s absence shapes and bends what can be seen, And sets us on a righteous, testing task …
A glowing orb, reflecting distant light, You calm and soothe our planet’s ebb and flow; But how much can we say we truly know, When our eyes meet across the darkest night. We theorised an impact of great might, From whose debris you burst and sought to grow; A …
Cast out by winds too fierce to call a home, You sail on seas unbearable to roam; The fury of this interstellar gale Ensured an astral voyage that would fail. Yet still we see you shimmer in the gloam. Now as the gases cool they start to foam, And …
Detecting bubbles in the Milky Way, Or sorting a muon and gamma ray; Identifying planets and their stars, Then codifying ice geysers on Mars. From mapping out old weather lost at sea, To counting jungle rhythms in a tree; With floating forests hiding in plain sight, Sometimes research just …
The empty cupboards of our Universe Are filled with neutral cobwebs of potential; All of them waiting for an opportunity To blaze into life and burn away the haze. The earliest galaxies glimmered quietly As they waited for the fog to disperse; Trailblazers that reveal hidden lines And …
Fast radio bursts come from outer space, We measure them and try to plot their trace; First thought to be some cataclysmic scar, Lost echoes of some young yet ancient star. A thousandth of a second in their beat, We now know that some of these sounds repeat; Recordings …