look to the stars

i have a fascination with stars. i enjoy going out on cloudless nights and spotting my favorite constellations. i want you to write a piece that is inspired by a constellation or a specific star.

here's a link with a list in case you need it:
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellation_list.html

the rules:
-one or two pieces per poet
-poetry or pose
-300 words or less
-title it, unless it is a haiku/tanka/other form that traditionally does not have a title
-let me know which constellation you have chosen. it doesn't have to be the title, but i want to know. so weave it in there somehow.
-collaborations welcome, just let me know who is involved.
-two weeks

let's get going, star gazers! i'll start us off in the comments!

Polaris (North Star)

on the nights when i am
most lost
cannot hold back
the darkness
for another second
i pray for cloudless nights

slipping from my cold bed
i wander
into the inky blue
of sky and moon
situate myself due north
navigating back to
calm

lift my eyes to the vastness
dance my vision across
those tiny pinpricks of light
imagine being among them
i search for the big bear
and the little
let them tell me stories
of going home and
hope

the north star becomes
my sun at noon
slowly i force an orbit
until it becomes natural
become my own gravitational force
and Polaris whispers
that it is time
to sleep
time to dream the good dreams
time to be
whole

Bump

I am a regular night sky watcher. Although my zodiac sign is Leo I prefer writing verses about Scorpio and Orion constellations cause I'm fascinated by their eternal fight and the fact that they can never be seen simultaneously in the same sky. This one is about Orion (The big mythological hunter that died from a scorpion's sting). The earlier I have observed it rising ever is the date of the poem. I keep watching it till it becomes invisible again round February.

tags: LEMONIA  (F)LEAP EDELTRAUD => UNHOLY ECHO DA LONTANO

HILLSIDE
FRIDAY-EARLY MORNING
26/7/2013

LET THE BIG HUNTER DECIDE

Looking into the sky you look the past,
I do it cause there's nothing else to do,
I only go as back as SUMMER BLAST,
I only speak of love between us two.

This morning the Big Hunter re-appeared,
I welcome him again on this hillside,
For summer loves he seems to be all geared,
I'll let him for my loves better decide.

I'll let Grand Bellatrix awake my thrilling,
I'll let Grand Betelgeuse awake my lust,
And Bright Rigel sanctify my feeling,
All three I will invoke to sing my past.

thanks, hornyatmorn!

still have time to get in on this if anyone is interested!

Here's an old favorite - disqualified for comp for being too verbose, but fits your theme so I'll post anyway.
/

Mars Prominent

I am not a good Brave.
I secretly practice the sacred ways
and at night slip quietly
from beside my wife
to sit with Coyote and the moon.
She knows, but speaks of it to no one.

My woman says I eat too little,
meaning she eats too little,
but I find no heart for killing.
Boys of ten do better
fetching flesh for my tribe than I.
I am not a good brave.

I can crawl silent through thorns,
not to stalk, but to share
Blackberry with speckled fawn.
I dig medicine root among Raccoon
and hunt mushroom for visions
beside Skunk.
I feel more kinship to Rabbit than Bobcat,
but if I feel weak I will kill.

I know from my night roaming
holes of slow moving Opossum.
Easily I wound them with my bow,
then deliver a blow to the head
with a heavy stick or stone.
One good crack on ledge,
two on grass and its skull is broken,
it lays dead.

Quickly with my jagged flint
I rip the chest apart
And eat the beating heart.
And if it spills wastefully on the ground
I eat the brain
And pray to our Gods
To gain a taste of the spirit I erased
To sustain me.

Then as every Brave is taught,
I slit the quarry's throat and drain the blood
Into my dried gourd
For my squaw to later flavor a broth.
And as the Elders insist,
I rip out the bowels and wrap the guts
in wet leaves to boil up for the dogs.

The rest I bring to camp,
the best muscle and flesh
always for the old men and children.
My woman's face beams to see me arrive
with meat for the fire,
her eyes dropping only slightly
with disappointment
at the sight of a Opossum.
At least tonight her Mother and Sister will eat,
my wife silently ashamed it is not Deer.


I have a rock where I mark the changes
in the place where our Gods reside.

It has been five nights now since the moon is full.
Twice a bright red light arrives early
on the horizon
and chases the moon across the sky
until sunrise.
I feel its unusual pull
And while wolves howl from within the woods,
I chant to the ancestors for guidance.

Sum uvduh Starz inn Heavinn poyint tew Poelariss

Eye looked upp end thar wuz Bellatrix
hangin' out inn Ohryan.
Duh Pleeuhdeez laffed der assiss off
wyle Caneiss Mayjer bit duh Taurus hed
und Aureega playd lykuh Eagull.

Caneiss Mynor wuzz standin' bye
to ketch duh waturr frum Aquareeiss.
Dat whole Skorpeein'
stung dem 7 Sissturz
end Geminneye.

O Andromeduh!
Yes Beetlejuice!

Goe ahed,
mayke mai dai,
shoot dem luckee starz.

thanks for all the entries so far!

still time to get in on this!

Minerva, will be back to judge this competition.. As her husband, i give you my word.. thanks to everyone for their patience and understanding.. much respect..


Dave

The Sign of I

Women always come up
to me and ask what my sign is,
I look at them in total confusion.
What sign?
Can you be more specific ma'am?
Hurry up before I give you the one
finger salute, how is that for a sign?
Of course I'm playing naive,
I think they like that.
I'm the Latin fish,
but who would of thought it
a few days ago when it was
one hundred degrees and I almost melted?
I look up at the sky and see my
reflection between Aquarius and Aries
and wonder how I got this far.
All it takes is my naked eyes to spot the sea
as I wonder how Eros felt after untying the
rope and escaping Typhon. I couldn't tell
you the five subdivisions of the great
constellation but I can tell you my awe.

diamonddave75 said:Minerva, will be back to judge this competition.. As her husband, i give you my word.. thanks to everyone for their patience and understanding.. much respect..


Dave

and if she's not, i think it just goes to voting, where everyone votes on the entries and the highest number of votes gets the trophy, so no pressure. [:

I don't know the constellations.
I am Aquarius, I know the water-bearer
and his cup await my tears,
glistening strands of need and loneliness
hung from webbed, crystalline tacks.

At nine I ached to be a muse.
Too much Xanadu had me trying to be
Olivia Newton-John with wooden
blocks in the heels of my socks
for divinity's disco boots,
tearing a night gown to shreds
then belting it with a sash.

I knew Daddy Zeus would come for me.
I waited every night in view of a black,
twinkling ocean that seemed infinitely
better than life down below.

That beautiful night sky, pulsing
with the dreams of children.
I look up it now in a sort of
weary familiarity. It does not change,
my eyes have grown accustomed
to the empty glitter of fairy dust.

I suppose I don't like the night anymore,
its vast, empty promises,
eternal circus rippling where one
must return to the painful truths
of this existence's little necklaces,
long strands of faux, rotting pearls
of emptiness.

I take my pills and lie in bed,
hold my head tight under blankets,
pushing out thoughts of stars,
and wishing the magic would go away.

thanks for being patient with me! congrats to everyone who entered. it was a great to see so many pieces about stars. carry on being awesome, ladies and gents.

Congrats to lanooz and Calculating for great contributions. I enjoyed them a lot.
Also many thanks to Minerva for her very capturing idea for such a comp. and for her hosting.