Student Poems Inspired by Chandra Releases (1)

Jonathan Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at De Montfort University in the UK, wrote two poems called 'History Lesson' and 'Black Hole in B-Flat,' both inspired by Chandra discoveries, and featured on Chandra's blog. Because of the success of these poems, Chandra and De Montfort University subsequently ran a competition for Creative Writing undergraduate students, in which they were invited to submit poems inspired by one of Chandra's press releases. The competition aimed to uncover the poetry inherent in the kind of scientific discovery undertaken by Chandra, and the four winning entries certainly succeeded in doing precisely that.
Here are the third and fourth placegetters in the competition. The first and second placegetters will be included in a future blog posting.

Black Hole Blowback

By Jack O'Sullivan
From http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/10_releases/press_030310.html

En,
Gee-cee
One-oh-six.
Eight.

A heavy heart
Bleeds green.

The Black Hole Blowback

Breathes,

Stifling stars.

"I think the upshot,"
Said Evans,
"Is that these black holes
Are anything
But ordinary."

Cas A

by Nico Lehmann

From http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/99_releases/press_122199.html

Outside,
strangely bright,
outside where there’s no light:
flaming spots whisk an internal fight.

¡Vaya CasA!

When matter
matters more,
out there, where
it’s their fuel and ore,

¡Vaya CasA!

then
every core
is an assembly fort
of a mysterious world.

¡Ver la CasA

dank Röntgens Strahlen,
which collide with
la sphère d’une glace!

¡Vaya CasA!

A gaseous orb,
a giant house -
the factory’s
on hold.

¡Vaya CasA!

It melts,
reforms,
consumes the storm
and bursts.

La CasA
vanished
-cries unheard-,
renewed, enriched the universe.

Notes by Nico Lehmann
Translation:
Vaya Casa – what a house.
Ver la Casa – See the house
Dank Röntgens Strahlen – thanks to the rays of (Mr.) Röntgen
La sphère d’une glace – the field of a mirror
La Casa – the house/Cassiopeia A