Category Archives: Space

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Simply the Best.” NASA is building a new Voyager spacecraft that will carry the best of modern human culture. What belongs onboard?

*A copy of the poem “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
*A recording of Townes Van Zandt’s “Snowin’ on Raton” performed by Gretchen Peters & Tom Russell
*A video of the birth of a child
*A video of children playing a nonviolent game
*A video of a sunrise and sunset
*The recipe for baking powder biscuits
*An Apple MacBook Air
*A pair of Crocs sandals
*A bottle of Bacardi Anejo Rum
*A glass jar of chocolate pudding plus a recipe for making it,
*A recipe for dark chocolate ice cream
*A book showing pictures of flowers
*The picture of a tree
*A satellite video of an entire revolution of Earth
*Pictures or videos of a representative sample of the animals on Earth
*Life-sized replicas of a human male and female and a video of their movements and speech
*A copy of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence
*A copy of the human bill of rights
*A video of a performance of Swan Lake
*A video of a performance of break dancing (Or whatever is current. Sheesh, am I out of it!)
*A video performance of “The Voice.”
*A sealed glass jar of seeds from flowers, grass, trees, vegetables and fruits.
*A pair of Levis
*A lock of human hair
*A jar of nonpolluted air
*A jar of water
*A solar panel
*A sampler of bills and coins from several nations
*A Credit Card
*A profile from OK Cupid
*An art book of famous paintings and sculpture
*A picture of mountains
*A home video of a family interacting
*A copy of the film “You’ve Got Mail”

I could go on forever with this, so I’m just going to stop.  I had lots of other things indicative of life on earth and then saw that it was supposed to reflect the “best” of modern culture, so I took out the jar of polluted air, the jar of petroleum, etc.  Interested to see what others have said and to see what i’ve left out!!

 

World Like a White Stomach

6 Replies

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World like a White Stomach, Red Optional

My world is not round
and so it does not move in circles
like your world.
It is so small I stand above it, my head in space,
while a two-colored rainbow stretches out in my wake—
a straight line which is an echo
of my unbent trajectory into the universe.
Three navels has my world
for the three births it delivers us to:
into this world, within and out of it.
Each is an adventure more easily seen
in a straight world where everything
is not always repeating itself.
Here, fish swim out of the water.
Birds more commonly walk.
And in the distance, we see colors
not of our world.
Stop and go.
The green of earth.
The red that is only an option as we look away,
searching for the million worlds beyond.

The Daily Post Prompt: One day, your favorite piece of art — a famous painting or sculpture, the graffiti next door — comes to life. What happens next?