Regular contributor of poetry Harvey Madison had an opportunity to be up close and personal at a Space Shuttle Launch. Harvey was kind enough to share those with us and some of them are presented below. You can find more (and larger) photos on Harvey’s web site. You can click on the images below to see a larger version of the photos. Harvey had press credentials (and a lot of talent) and was thus able to get close enough to … Read on…
For me, most days are sky days, but some days are plane days. Today was a plane day. There was an overcast with bands of rain scattered around, so I gave my bird a bath by flying through several of them. But mainly, I just communed with her, flying nowhere, listening to the steady drone of her engine, and, well, just being alone in the sky. Like the mountain climber sitting atop a peak, surveying the landscape spread below, I … Read on…
After the Everafter there’s a loss of soul. A loss of warmth I had somewhere. Now an emptiness not felt before. What I can see is all there is, no more. After the Everafter. So what’s to do, and what’s to be? Can love and awe and truth still be? Is beauty still there for us to see? Now I’m the only judge of these. After the Everafter.
Far out on a country hill I place my blanket on the grass and lie flat. Above my head to the north is steady Polaris. Off my left arm the gas giant Jupiter rises silently. Off my right, Mercury Is settling into the deep blue twilight. As velvet black of true darkness comes, the majestic backbone of night appears – the Milky Way. Its angle from my right foot across to my left shoulder orients me, and I tilt my … Read on…
Snug in the cockpit, I go by the numbers – Pre-taxi checklist complete, altimeter to three zero point zero five, rpm to seventeen hundred, check carb heat, mags, vacuum and mixture; flaps to fifteen, radio to one-two-one point nine and transmit:. “Ground control, this is niner-eight-three-two Uniform, departure heading two-niner-zero for twelve-thousand five hundred, ready for taxi”.
Afternoon Flight I’m sorry I’ll miss the meeting. But I’ve heard the wind, I’ve seen the clouds And I’m going to the sky. I’m trading in drudgery’s demands For a sleek plane that heeds my commands. Where cumulus boil and cirrus flee. Where sun turns rain into diamonds across my canopy. In the infinite expanse of cerulean blue, Move over, god, I’ve serious work to do. Pitching and rolling and dancing the afternoon away.
As the sun sets, my twenty mile pilgrimage begins, out to the sanctity of dark skies, away from city lights. My favorite music prepares my mind as I pass the last yellow blinking light at a tiny community’s crossroad. To my right the last vestige of warm orange color is on the horizon, above it the atmosphere is deep blue; still visibly colored but translucent, blending to starlit black overhead. The ceiling of my sanctuary is studded with stars, my … Read on…
Puzzling, it’s really puzzling. The backwardness of the self-limiting mind is what I’m referring to. I have a friend who, while disparaging me for not “opening my mind” to the paranormal realms, considers my science learning to be dull and dry. Another friend thinks that he can enjoy a sunset better than I by not cluttering up his mind with technical facts. He thinks my knowledge reduces my ability to engage in transcendence! They used to fool me. Try as … Read on…