Photo: Ursid Meteor Showers, Public Domain

Hi. Toni here as your Pubtender for Poetics today. Welcome to you all. This is the last poetics until after the New Year while the Poets Pubtenders will be on break. Bjorn will be here Thursday for a special and surprise Meeting the Bar segment with a co-authored, unique prompt I know many of you writers of free verse will enjoy. And as a special treat for some of our Pubtenders, my special holiday cranberry tea with clove studded slices of orange for your enjoyment.

Since the beginning of time when humans looked up into the night sky and beheld the stars, we have been held in thrall to their beauty and their mystery. All cultures have stories about their creation, the various constellations formed by star groups, have used them to navigate and lead them on their journeys. the Mayans thought the Milky Way was the road they followed to the underworld. The Japanese call it, Amanogawa – River of Heaven or the Celestial Rivers. I have to say it is one of my favorite kigo for writing haiku. As an insomniac, I am best friends with stars of all the seasons, frequently walking in the night or sitting on my back steps looking up at them for most of the night, until dawn comes.

Milky Way: Public Domain Photo

Stars also hold much of romance. So many tales and poems written of love found under the stars by mortals, stories of denied lovers who were taken to the heavens to be together or sometimes, separate, for eternity. “Falling” stars (falling meteors entering the earth’s atmosphere) have inspired wishes and when there are showers of them, unabated awe. This time of year, the Ursids will be in full force from December 15 through Winter Solstice, Christmas, and the New Year. Areas with a high level of light pollution miss out on these celestial fireworks.

Today, since it is the winter season and many cultures embrace the celebration of Light in various forms and giving of special gifts to family and friends, I would like you all to write a poem about stars. Consider this your gift to the poetic world and to the world in general. As this is a gift, I ask you to make your poems as full of light as you can – it has been such dark times for us, I would like us to give the beauty, mystery and hope of the stars to the world in general – to write of positivity, joy, love; no politics or cynicism. Write of making wishes on stars as a child or an adult, of viewing a meteor shower, of being in love and making love under the stars, of their mystery. Or make up a story poem about the stars, a constellation, or a personal experience about stars.

Here are some excerpts from examples for you to help you craft your star light poem:

Stars by Robert Frost

How countlessly they congregate
O’er our tumultuous snow,
Which flows in shapes as tall as trees
When wintry winds do blow!–

As if with keeness for our fate,
Our faltering few steps on
To white rest, and a place of rest
Invisible at dawn,–

And yet with neither love nor hate,
Those starts like some snow-white
Minerva’s snow-white marble eyes
Without the gift of sight.

Summer Stars by Carl Sandburg

BEND low again, night of summer stars.
So near you are, sky of summer stars,
So near, a long arm man can pick off stars,
Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,
So near you are, summer stars,
So near, strumming, strumming,
So lazy and hum-strumming.

And two haiku I wrote decades ago and a newer one:
spring stars twinkle far
above a solemn moon – laughter
as cherry trees bloom

amanogawa
shines in the darkness – light flows
around star islands.

• Write your poem and post it to your blog or website. Link your poem back to dVerse.
• Copy the url of your poem and click on the Mister Linky below and paste it into the space provided along with your name.
• After linking up, leave a comment below. We would love to get to know everyone better and we welcome discussions and questions.
• Visit and leave comments for the other poets who have linked a poem and especially to those who have visited you.
• Enjoy and share with others our wonderful community.