Like supernovae artists,
clouds disperse behemoth art,
as stars annihilate.
“Sombrero,” “Crab” and “Horsehead”
populate the gallery of our known universe.
There’s “Eagle” and “Pillars Of Creation;”
There’s “Ant,” “Tarantula” and “Pelican.”
There’s even one called “Big Running Chicken.”
One slightly resembles our great nation.
These interstellar Rorschach tests
reveal the shapes we recognize
within our world, like “Hamburger,”
“Butterfly” and “Pinwheel,”
but some come from guts of stars that are hurled.
Each may have destroyed some sentient race, but,
“Look! It’s pretty, like a rose in space!”
James Ph. Kotsybar, first poet published to another planet, has verse currently orbiting Mars, aboard NASA’s MAVEN, in Hubble Space Telescope’s Mission Log, and awarded and featured at NASA’s Centaur’s 50th Anniversary Art Challenge. He’s published in six countries and honored by State Poetry Society of Michigan and Balticon Competitions. He read before French Troubadours at EuroScience Open Forum. He once sang William Blake’s poetry at Santa Barbara's Victoria Hall Theater under Allen Ginsberg’s direction.
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