Curators of the Night

They are busy on the night shift,
dusting off star drift,
polishing up the moon in all its forms.
(It’s always being tarnished by space storms.)

The library’s astronomer
scans the sky for astral bodies, gathers
moons, and stars that fall to Earth,
and shelves them until their monthly rebirth.

They lend them out too,
to people like me and you,
romantics who need a little spark,
some glow and glitter in the dark.

Kim M. Russell, 9th May 2023

It’s Tuesday and time for Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub. This week Mish is our host and she asks us to slip into surrealism.

Mish reminds us that surrealism ‘defies logic, rationality and what we perceive as natural’, ‘strange beauty transpires from the most unusual artistic assemblages, combinations and distortions’, and that we have explored the movement of surrealism in previous dVerse prompts.

Today we are focusing on the surreal photography of  the Swedish photographer and visual artist Erik Johansson, who says he ’seeks to capture ideas rather than moments’ and ‘strives to create a single, realistic image that tells a story, even if it includes elements that seem impossible’.

Mish asks us to choose an image from a selection she has provided that sends us a message, an idea, or a story. If we include images with our poems, we are required to credit his work with his name and website. I chose two images, in which I saw similarities and contrasts, and a bit of romance.

Also shared on What’s Going On? on 8th May 2024.

70 thoughts on “Curators of the Night”

  14. Really good, Kim. I would never have thought of the dusting off, “It’s always being tarnished by space storms.” And now it is space junk, we are polluting even the stellar world. Oh yes, I’d like to have a 99-year loan of one, one that could be passed to my kids. I’d like to choose.
    ..

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  15. Really good, Kim. I would never have thought of the dusting off, “It’s always being tarnished by space storms.” And now it is space junk, we are polluting even the stellar world. Oh yes, I’d like to have a 99-year loan of one, one that could be passed to my kids. I’d like to choose.
    ..

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  28. What I like the best is that the library’s astronomer can lend them out to people like you and me to give us a little spark! A beautifully penned poem, Kim!

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  29. I love the idea of moon and star keepers, who polish them to make them shine, and keep them safe until the next month. Very cool. Made me smile.

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  32. Magical, Kim, and full of the kind of romantic fancy that rings true because we feel those sparks that “glow and glitter in the dark.” Beautifully imagined and written.

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  33. “. . . gathersmoons, and stars that fall to Earth,and shelves them until their monthly rebirth.”

    Such an idea! To curate and polish and save! I’m sure the shelves are poems, some with rhyme like this one, some free verse. And all meant to be circulated and recirculated. Splendid.

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