Day 27 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2015

Day Twenty-Seven. As a child, I found 27 enchanting, as I said about 24 recently. The number 27 is equal to 9 x 3, and the digits 2 and 7 in 27 add up to the 9 that's a factor of 27. I'm sure there's something about the number 9 and base 10 that makes 9 so interesting: 9 x 2 = 18 and the digits 1 and 8 add up to 9;  9 x 4 = 36 and the digits 3 and 6 add up to 9;  9 x 859,472 = 7,735,248 and the digits 7, 7, 3, 5, 2, 4, and 8 add up to 36, and then the digits 3 and 6 add up to 9. So 27 is not alone in that adding-up-to-9 thing. I'm sure a mathematician could explain those cool 9-effects clearly. To me it's all glorious mathematical magic. Maureen Thorson's NaPoWriMo prompt: Write a "hay(na)ku [which] consists of a three-line stanza, where the first line has one word, the second line has two words, and the third line has three words. You can write just one, or chain several together into a longer poem. For example, you could write a hay(na)ku sonnet." Thanks so much for suggesting the hay(na)ku today, Maureen, and also for the shout-out to me. I appreciate it! Robert Lee Brewer's PAD prompt: "write a looking back poem. Of course, some people just glance over their shoulders, and others stop and turn all the way around. Some look back in time and weigh their successes and failures, evaluate things they could do better. Some claim they never look back. Whatever your stance on looking back, capture it in a poem today." Since I wrote a hay(na)ku sonnet on Day 15, I'll write a longer hay(na)ku poem today, of course looking back to combine the two "official" prompts. Looking Back to the Stars My child eyes adored starships, SF, anything space-oriented: Mercury, Gemini, Apollo. 1969: Neil Armstrong’s astounding moon landing. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ visionary Barsoom novels. 2001: Space Odyssey. Flash Gordon cliffhangers. Comics utopias, dystopias: Magnus, Robot Fighter, Thor’s Marvel debut battling space aliens. Cartoons: Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century! The Jetsons, Termites from Mars. Plus, always nonpareil, matchless . . . Star Trek. Now, grown up, I ask you, Where’s my jetpack? My commuter spaceship? Where’s Penny Robinson, my spacegirl crush? We were promised a space future. Instead, we got runaway climate change. Repubs fighting Demos, progress always retrograde. Ah, Dale Arden, Princess Dejah Thoris, Yoeman Janice Rand, let’s fly away. Theremin eerily undulating, let’s fly away. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] I realize it's overly sentimental, even mawkish. But where are our Jetson flying cars? To my girlfriend Kathy . . . they're all fictional women!  ヅ  Marvin the Martian and Duck Dodgers in Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century. Okay, on to Alan's offering for the day. "I have written a hay(na)ku 'looking back' poem," Alan tells us, "matching both prompts and finally writing one of Vince's favorite forms." P O E M   R E M O V E D while being submitted for publication.   Please come back later. The poem may return at some time in the future. Thank you!       That's both haunting and lovely, Alan. Since it's a sonnet — a hay(na)ku sonnet — the connections to love and human desire are unavoidable, simultaneously sweet and sad. Friends, won't you comment, please? Love to know what you're thinking. To comment, look for a red line below that starts Posted by, then click once on the word comments in that line. If you don't find the word "comments" in that line, then look for a blue link below that says Post a comment and click it once. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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