Nevi's Contest Round 2 (Entries)

Draco

Eltanin spoke,
commanding those
whose gaze met his
to leave their bodies;
projecting forth into the sky.

Thuban caught stargazers,
pulled them from the ground
and made haste
through the dwarf galaxy
past the cat's eye.

Or was it
The Black Tortoise who
trudged along with them
along the path to the
Purple Forbidden Enclosure?

Slain once by Hercules
and placed on high by Hera;
yet he was found again not
guarding golden apples for the
goddess, but golden fleece.

Destroyed once by
Minerva, and also found
slithering round the foot
of the forbidden fruit tree;
tempting Adam and Eve.

How astonishing the
great dragon is.
With great vigor, he's
been killed so many times
yet he never leaves the sky.

But the Mother Camel lies
awake, sighs, and denies
the teachings of
those who see the
serpentine sign.

Andromeda

I would mould my hands
into blinkers, so that nosy branches
or obtrusive gables would not invade my dilated vision.
All I wanted to see were spidergrams of stars
tiled onto the navy blanket-like sky.
Then I could imagine that they were as close
as an arms-length away -
Could imagine Andromeda as introverted, or
while floating in the weightless non-air
could look at her from the opposite side
and play interstellar join-the-dots.

But, I didn't have to look to another galaxy
to find a lady chained to a rock.
I didn't need much imagination for that.

Pleiades

The Seven Sisters slink their way
across a crystal winter sky.
Sizzling hot, blue, and middle-aged,
they sip ethanol cocktails with
fancy wisps of nebula as
garnishes.
They flirt with
Orion, casting eyes at his shining
...belt.
They raise their eyebrows, arched
like comet tails, and smirk
as he blushes radiation pink and
fumbles with his sword.
Around the Solstice, the sisters
bathe religiously, luxuriously,
in the foam of the Milky Way,
bubbling with gossip and
using asteroids to scrub
each others backs.

Pisces

Our tails were knotted with stars
as we swam to the edges of a fishbowl -
for he was as tall as mountains
with snakes coiled around his legs
and a head of fire breathing dragons
latching fear onto our hearts,
yet we escaped to sanctuary
and now hang in the northern sky
ruled by Neptune, king of the sea.

Phoenix

Your way of loving me,
darling,
has become milkier than ever -

most of the time,
it grows fiery,
like a Phoenix
with kaleidoscopic plumage
and a tail of gold
and scarlet
that wraps our bodies,
when in constellation
around 9 p.m,
like some southern
November coverlet.

And as soon as
the morning sun
penetrates
our unlit Heliopolis,
your love rises
-glowing-
to be consumed
by galactic black holes
of dusty future clusters.

Yet...

it tends to live forever,
your love to me,
for each year
it embalms the ashes
of tense and routine
in soulless comets,

to be renewed
exquisitely
amidst my skies of gray
and our nights
of constellation
every November,
around 9 p.m.

Omg.. "Pleiades" is worth a noble prize XD

Ooh Nevi, me likey the poems!

I'm reading them again. Great quality really! I think this prompt has made all write epic pieces.

I love'm all.

What's your favorite, Britt? I like to know people's opinions only, well if you're okay with that :p

Huge fan of Pleiades. Definitely my favorite.

My favorites are phoenix and Pleiades.
I can't decide which one I like the most from those two.

The one who wrote 'Pleiades' should definitely drop out of this round just to post his/her poem for a front page!

This section out of "Andromeda" got me:

"But, I didn't have to look to another galaxy
to find a lady chained to a rock."

Oof!

The only constellations I can think of off the top of my head are the Big Dipper, Pleidies, and Casseopeia. Oh, and Orion. And I took astronomy for a semester!

I like Orion specifically because it has Betelgeuse in it.

Betelgeuse Betelgeuse Betelgeuse.

Oh, I guess the Little Dipper, too.

The little dipper as well? :P

I have a star somewhere out there named after me. Very cool gift!

I liked Andromeda as well, especially that ending!