In honor of Mr May, we re-publish an occasional poegle from the Collection.

My First Telescope

I used a little eyepiece
And a pair of my father’s optical glasses,

A cereal box, a drainpipe,
Cedar roofing shingles, a record,
And a huge cardboard tube.

You could see a lot from a backyard
In Ohio, but I was living
In a mid-floor apartment
In Brooklyn. I made basic drawings

Of sunspots. I managed to observe
A few double stars
And the Great Nebula of Orion.
Stargazers, like musicians,
Typically learn
On inferior instruments.

Small wonder, then,
That it is the telescope
That has seen more changes
Than anything else
In my life.

-Editor (search phrase “my first telescope”)

The state of our union is strong.  Our call for poegles on the theme “My Mother” drew many fine poegles this week, none finer than Maternal Instincts by Brad on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  Brad, get ready to get your Miss Mary Mack on because you just won a plastic segmented jump rope.  Nor could we close this first paragraph of our weekly newsletter without acknowledging the latest dynamite poegle from Polly in Virginia, Visiting the Lost City, and a fine collage by Jamie in Brooklyn, My Mother Always Wore.  Our thanks to you all.

The theme for this week’s contest is “Lost in Space.”  Perhaps you saw our notice yesterday of the astronaut whose tool bag drifted off into the ether during her spacewalk.  Apparently the astronaut in question, Ms. Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, took the loss hard:  “There’s still the psychological thing of knowing that we made a mistake and having to live through that,” she reportedly said.  We can only assume that her anxiety was the result not of the pecuniary loss of the tool bag, which apparently contained a couple of grease guns and other odds and ends worth a paltry $100,000, but by the unavoidable contemplation of the infinite that such an occasion would unavoidably cause.

Well, cheer up Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper.  For all you do, this poegle’s for you.  Possible search phrases for the Friday Poegle Contest might include “once orbit is achieved,” “the man in the moon,” and “to count the stars.”

And finally, don’t forget to track Justin’s progress in bringing poetry to our nation’s schools by growing a handsome mustache. 

With that, happy poegling!

Best regards,

NASA

This ABC article suggests odder things than grease guns have been lost in space.  Astronaut Piers Sellers apparently had a bizarre little mishap on one of his 41 spacewalks:  “Sellers lost a spatula on one of his spacewalks. He called it his favorite spatula.”  Poegles.com wonders- a spatula?  Was he making a grilled cheese?

Here at Poegles.com, our network of obsessions includes space and space travel.  Here’s a fine poegle from the vault.  More in the ‘Outer Space’ category in our collection.

 
Obscure Constellation

Apart from a few double stars,
There’s little of interest.

Rarely figures
In discussions of seasonal signs.
Looking nothing more
Than like a traditional
Old coat hanger.
Residing in a relatively empty
Area of the sky.

Invented by the Dutch astronomer Petrus Plancius,
But gained its prominence
Through a book by Adalai Stevenson.

Recognized as an altar, pyramid-temple,
Ship, eagle, emu, serpent and even
The Southern Cross.

Unless you were born under the sign,
It’s likely you have not
Spent much time there.

The freezing nights passed in a small
University observatory
Doing photometry
Of a dim heavy nova.

-search phrase “Obscure Constellation”