Roy Beckemeyer

Skull of Sirius, Crossbones of Cassiopeia

 

 

We pirate photons, curve

them to gravity’s lies,

deflect their innocence

into our sails – spend

their fecundity, born

in Orion’s belt, to sweep

us on continuum’s errand,

galaxy to black hole to red dwarf –

particle and wave we float, drift,

bob on seas of light matter and dark,

coining new words for ourselves, our

origins – watch us arrive, we mariners

of space, we privateers of the universe,

we shadows of the skies –

our sails block out constellations,

blacken vast arcs of glowing space, leave

your irises to expand, expand

as your universe shrinks

and cowers.

---

 

The Chase

 

Tonight the moon himself’ becomes the prey,

Orion and his dogs hot on the trail.

They arc across the sky and bark and bay.

Canis major, Canis minor, snap and flail.

 

Their hard star-eyes’ unblinking icy spark

betrays blood lust that drives them at the lune,

bold Sirius’ blue glint against the dark

a warning sign, portent,  a deadly rune.

 

At last the tall meridian is breached,

the moon slides past the line midnight had drawn,

escapes the hunting party’s grasping reach,

finds refuge in the bright haven of dawn.

---

 

Daylight’s Starring Role

 

 

Daylight stands

behind the curtain

of night.

The turning

of the planet

winds the rope,

pulls the curtain up

and out of the way.

We who watch do not see

the pulleys or the folds

of night’s fabric,

we see only

the thin wedge of

glow that promises

light to the day.

We stand, applaud.

---

 

Sunset

 

 

Dragonfly fluttering

in the dust-filtered

evening twilight,

warping

the sun’s last lingering,

like a supernova altering

the last gravity of the day,

like a mouth-harp player

bending,

from B to B-flat,

the last note of evensong,

like a cue ball clicking

just off center,

breaking,

breaking,

breaking the racked light.

---

 

Magisterial Moon

 

The  Magisterial Moon rules the minuscule stars,

And the evening’s planets, Saturn, Venus and Mars,

His full face is so bright against the black sky

That they all fade away from view by and by.

When Moon reaches his zenith, dawn dares to arrive,

The sky starts to brighten, the horizon comes alive

With pastel colors of every hue.

And Moon begins to be dimmed by the blue.

Then Supercilious Sun declares and declaims

“Moon, you just dimly reflect My fusion, My flames.”

---

 

Roy Beckemeyer is a retired aeronautical engineer who currently studies Paleozoic insect fossils and writes poetry. He is from Wichita, Kansas. His poems have recently appeared in or been accepted byThe Midwest Quarterly, Kansas City Voices, The North Dakota Review, Dappled Things, and  I-70 Review. His debut collection of poetry, “Music I Once Could Dance To,” published in 2014 by Coal City Review and Press, was selected as a 2015 Kansas Notable Book by the State Library of Kansas and the Kansas Center for the Book.