What TRL *is* a Tesla Roadster Now | NaPoWriMo 18.7
(TRL – Technology readiness levels for space systems. TRL 1 Basic principles observed and reported. TRL 9 Actual system “mission proven” through successful mission operations.)
The Oldest Loves and Promises | NaPoWriMo 18.6

I Brought You the Moon Image Credit & Copyright- Fernando Cabrerizo
The trees knew the Moon before
our ancestors lived in them
they had long ago fallen in love
with its changing silver light
even though it didn’t nourish them
perhaps even because of it.
They whispered to us
when we came around
and we fell in love, too.
High as trees could reach
the moon was too far away.
But even that far back
we knew it was not too far
for us
eventually
We promised
when some day we went
we would bring it back
to them.
Haunted Planet | NaPoWriMo 18.5
Jupiter’s haunted
can you even imagine
the size of those ghosts?
Interloper | NaPoWriMo 18.4
We’ve named you but
We don’t know
Your real name
Where you came from but
Not your origin
Where you’re going but
Not your destination
So much to teach us but
So little time to learn
So we wait and watch
For another of you
To visit
Back To It | NaPoWriMo 18.3
Back to the heat
to the streaming screaming clouds
the oceanic pressure
Back to the mysteries
to the long unanswered questions
the yet undiscovered
Back to Venus
Second Planet Blues | NaPoWriMo 18.2
No azure sky
No sea green sea
No emerald jungle
No celadon swamp
Not now
Not ever?
Just not anymore?
Once upon a time
Did the sun
glint on the water
refract from the dew
of its second world?
And once upon a time
did anything
anyone
breathe
bask
look up
at a star-filled night
and sing?
No More Missing | NaPoWriMo 18.1
I haven’t succeeded with National Poetry Writing Month for a couple years. Didn’t even try last year, but this year I’ll give it another go.
First taught
to imagine orbit
as falling
ever falling around
at just the right speed
to miss
the ground
Later
gravity’s partners
feather touches
of atmosphere
push or pull
of magnetic field
the kissing
solar wind
Falling isn’t forever,
Inevitable return is
a complicated romance.
NaPoWriMo16.2: Calendars
On Venus poets have
almost twenty years
to compose thirty poems
for Venusian Poetry Writing Month
For JuPuWriMo
the Jovians have about
twelve and a half days
for the whole shebang
You’d think a luxurious
but not decadent
thirty days would be perfect
and yet down to the wire we go once again.
NaPoWriMo16.1: Next World
It’s that time of year again, and much has happened.
Not the least of which:
.
.
The farthest horizon we know
phoned home at dialup speed
bit by bit under hazy sky
we learn the next living world