About How to Navigate Our Universe:
How to Be a Star
Gravitationally collapse a nebula.
Fuse hydrogen into helium.
If desired, explode.
How to Navigate Our Universe is a collection of 128 astronomy poems, ranging from whimsical to serious — poems about planets, stars, black holes, and astronomers, complete with essential advice such as How to Surprise Saturn, How to Blush Like Betelgeuse, and How to Survive a Black Hole.
“Unraveling meaning from partial glimpses of the universe has
preoccupied astronomers for thousands of years. Mary Soon Lee’s
remarkable collection of poetry traces this journey, capturing the
wonder of the celestial bodies that comprise our universe, the elegance
of the rules that guide its evolution and the humanity of those who
search to better our understanding.”
– Andy Connolly, Professor of Astronomy, University of Washington
“There are poems that think deeply. There are poems that feel
deeply. Here are entire constellations of poems managing to do both at
once, accessibly and with a subtle music which seems far more effortless
than I suspect it is. Ranging from witty to elegantly serious,
apolitical to frankly feminist, this collection celebrates astronomy and
space exploration — but never limits itself to those topics. Instead,
it expands with its own dark energy, inviting the reader to consider how
our views of the universe affect our own humanity.”
– Ann K. Schwader, SFPA Grand Master
Excerpt:
In memory of Galileo Galilei
[February 15, 1564 - January 8, 1642]
Select spherical glass surfaces
in curves convex and concave.
Position paired lenses precisely,
bending light to your bidding.
Peering through this instrument,
map the mountains of the Moon.
Reveal the concealed satellites
of Jupiter, unfixed, restless,
their circling paths disclosing
the ordering of the firmament.
No matter what Ignorance insists,
banish lies. Let there be light.
1. Big Crunch
Crumple it up,
smaller and smaller,
a mote of matter. Begin again?
2. Big Rip
Bring rage to bear,
tear it apart, shredding stars,
the fabric of spacetime.
3. Big Freeze
Turn down the lights,
dismiss the dimming stars,
sweep the bare stage.
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About Mary Soon Lee:
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