PORTSMOUTHPOINT

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Out of the void . . . and then?

Posted on 2:30 AM by Unknown


Birth of a star
(source: NASA)

Out of the void . . . and then?


I
Out of
The void
In one small step
The phoenix rises from the ashes
A finch born out of the darkness.

Destiny? Pre-ordained?
With vice or virtue
Thus spoke the reborn
In discovery, anxiety is the dizziness of freedom
Staring
                                  Into
The
                                                                                                Light…

II
Forests falling and cities rising,
Lives being lived, loves being loved,
In hotels and heavens and hospitals,
In loveliness and loneliness and peace.

Blocks of flats scrambling for the sky,
Yellow streetlights below, accentuating the gloom,
Commuters ignore the notes floating on the air,
Casting piteous glances at the wonderer in the gutter,

And with the invention, the shell, the bullet,
We turned our attention from the stars,
Took one small step, but a great leap back,
We fight, we squabble,
Like rabid dogs in the dirt,
Blood spilled forms red tendrils,
They cover the Earth.

And the stars we ignored,
They are at peace -
They judge -
They sigh -
And look away -
In shame.

III
The stars gentle blush caresses dusty plains
Untouched epochs passed, until time finally slows
Expectant of the arrival
So imminent in its slow descent
Clouds appear then clear, residue remains
Silence is stifling in vacuous space
Never the cry of a swan nor call of a dove
Has this place heard
Man’s footstep makes no sound, though it is firmly there
Voices from inside resound the call
“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

IV
Episodes of science,
Influenced transgressions.
The stars are away then.
As Atlas passed,
As the atmosphere was lost.

We lament,
Yet disregard the ocean;
Stain, gorillas and green.
Deep sea diving
For shallow waters.

With light like silver screen,
We gain innocence
And lose but all.

***
The star is so distant.
A pinpoint of light,
Etched in the black.
With no one to say if it is ours
Or just a taunt from the abyss.
It is so cold here,
Even in the richness of the light.
An ocean of diamond blankets the planet,
With icebergs of crystals…
More than all the wealth of our
Barren Earth.
But they have lost their wealth,
Without the star they have lost their gleam.
And with their dark, extinguished my dream.

V
Iris to iris
Yours is a cascade of eternal onyx
A shroud of uncertainty encompassing, surrounding all with insubstantiality
Full of forgotten wishes and forgotten lovers
Mine is quaint and murky green
Gleaming membrane in awe of your expanse
What happened here to turn you char-black?
Only small beacons, blossoming in the abyss
Fragility of your form and the fragility of my destiny,
Parallel and unsynchronised
Glowing heat, a testament to our memory.

VI
We assimilated our universe:
A breeding void, for our empty chances.
Science conquers all with completeness-
We engorge our knowledge. But our hopes are starved.
Our tongues dry from accomplishments
We chose ourselves. Now culture
Plays God - we wallow
In insipid insecurities
Of comings and goings. Can
A world unmade
Be reborn?

And so we look back, up at these stars. Ancient legends told anew.
This small step
A
Giant
Leap


Authors
Section I: Aladdin Benali, Joshua Rampton
Section II: Robert Bendell, Alistair Gray
Section III: Lydia Brown Isabel Mackay
Section IV: Thomas Brett, Matthew Peacock
Section V: Mun-Roop Gill, Molly Cranston, Taylor Richardson
Section VI: Tom Harper, Gregory Walton-Green


“The event was the Sixth Form’s contribution to National Poetry Day, in which 13 pupils took part in a poetry workshop. The task was to create a linked poem on the National Poetry Day’s theme of ‘Stars’, all in under two hours. Divided into poetry teams, they took inspiration from ee cummings, Einstein, Iain Banks, the film 2001 and, of course, the Moon landings, especially the first in 1969. After much fevered work, a new poem emerged, entitled ‘Out of the void…and then?’ Congratulations to all involved, and particular thanks to Mrs Kirby who inspired the event, and Mr Richardson, who helped guide and shape the finished piece.”

See also Something from Nothing by Ed Harding  
and A Universe From Nothing by Sampad Sengupta. 




Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in Blog Exclusive, Creative Writing, Science and Tech | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Recipe: Fifteens
     by Patrick McGuiggan The definitive Northern Ireland traybake is the ‘Fifteen’. They are so delicious I assumed that they would be fairly ...
  • 'Porphyria's Lover': A Feminist Reading
    Josh Rampton offers a Feminist reading of Robert Browning's poem 'Porphyria's Lover'. This article was originally published ...
  • Favourite Films: Skyfall
    by Tom Harper Upon my recent exploration of the latest movie archives I was stopped dead in my tracks by Disney and Pixar’s recent announcem...
  • Interview: with Melissa Smith of ‘The Exonerated’
    by Taylor Richardson Melissa Smith , who plays a main role in the school’s production of The Exonerated , answers five questions surroundi...
  • Why Are We So Fascinated By The Gothic?
    Lucy Cole The Nightmare by John Henry Fuseli, 1781 (wiki commons) Since its humble beginnings in 1764, with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of O...
  • Portsmouth Point Poetry – War and Humanity in 'The Iliad'
    by George Laver  Priam (left) pleads with Achilles (centre) for the return of the body of his son, Hector (below). (source: bc.edu)    ...
  • Is Texting Killing The English Language?
    In this  TED talk , linguist John McWhorter analyses the linguistics of texting: " Texting properly isn’t writing at all — it’s actual...
  • Hackers: Pain Relief
    by Gregory Walton-Green , with an introduction by Benjamin Schofield Introduction Prompted by a writing exercise in Hackers, here Gregory ...
  • Is Lack of Sleep a Problem for PGS Pupils?
    by Hattie Gould and Annie Materna (image source: uratexblog.com) Sleep deprivation is a continual problem for teenagers and can be the caus...
  • Why The US Supreme Court Has Made The Right Decision Regarding Gene Patenting
    by Tim Bustin (source: biopoliticaltimes.org) On Thursday, the US Supreme Court ruled that human genes may not be patented, as “a naturally ...

Categories

  • Art and Literature (72)
  • Blog Exclusive (466)
  • Creative Writing (36)
  • Current Affairs (55)
  • Economics (12)
  • Film and Drama (62)
  • Food (12)
  • From Parents (1)
  • From Teachers (54)
  • Hackers (12)
  • History (21)
  • Language (17)
  • MUN (1)
  • Music (58)
  • Personal (45)
  • Philosophy and Religion (20)
  • Photography (66)
  • Psychology (13)
  • Science and Tech (41)
  • Sport (58)
  • Travel (14)

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (346)
    • ►  September (21)
    • ►  August (20)
    • ►  July (43)
    • ►  June (52)
    • ►  May (42)
    • ►  April (41)
    • ►  March (42)
    • ►  February (38)
    • ►  January (47)
  • ▼  2012 (153)
    • ►  December (41)
    • ►  November (48)
    • ▼  October (45)
      • The True Public Health Crisis of the 21st Century
      • Review: A Broken Rose
      • Is God responsible for everything that happens in ...
      • Review: Skyfall
      • Misunderstood Movie Villains
      • How Effective Is Our Prison System?
      • A Slice of Enlightenment – answering some of the g...
      • The 'Ginger' Issue
      • How Do You Solve a Problem Like the Euro?
      • Best and Worst Teams of the Week
      • Kick Racism Out Of Football!
      • Review: Looper
      • Review: Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! By Godspeed...
      • A Nation Mourns, But Comes of Age
      • ‘Anna Karenina’: A Review
      • President of the Internet?
      • Man Booker Prize Winner 2012: Bring Up The Bodies
      • Review: Green Day - ¡Uno!
      • 21 Things you Couldn’t Do Before You Turned Sixteen
      • Photography Club: The Eye
      • Aesthetics Are A Moral Imperative
      • Hackers: Forest of Light and Dark
      • On The Road
      • US 2012: The Latin American Dream
      • Out of the void . . . and then?
      • 'How Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?'
      • A Universe From Nothing
      • Great Gatsby: The Movie
      • Best and Worst Bond Films
      • Two Reviews of Adele's Skyfall.
      • All About Me!
      • Why The Nobel Prize System Needs To Change
      • Premier League: Best and Worst Teams of the Week
      • ICC WORLD T20: A Memorable Finish
      • Ryder Cup 2012: Greatest Comeback in Golfing History
      • Double Delight for Heroic Hampshire: Season Review...
      • In Defence of Eric Hobsbawm
      • In Memory of Amália Rodrigues: The Queen of Fado
      • With the Beatles in Portsmouth
      • US Election: How Much Is Too Much?
      • Five Reasons To Treasure The Portmuthian
      • Muse: The 2nd Law – Magnificence or Madness?
      • Portsmouth Point Poetry: Field of Autumn
      • Shakespeare: Modern Art
      • Review: Tempest by Bob Dylan
    • ►  September (19)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile