Enjoy a new artwork and poem Three Billion Years:

www.lunarmission.gallery/threebillionyears.html





The changing face of our moon...

I reflect on time and change with the moon's surface as a place that provides context.

Mike

It's been awhile coming Mike but my that's a beauty.
Another wonderful piece of Art (your always consistent and never a bad one to be seen) this looks to have some great texture to it, I get the feeling this would look even better close up.

Now I'm certainly no fan of poems (in fact quiet the opposite) however this one is a beauty (yours Mike?)

It needs posting here so I hope you don't mind?


Three Billion Years

Three seconds pass,
At rest our human breath from ebb and flow,
In this we feel what time can be.

Three minutes trip,
From bread to toast,
And time begins its mystery.

Three hours pass,
An ample span for knowing strangers new,
Too much to be in sadness save for fostered friendship few.

Three days are long enough,
To be in love forever bound,
For loss to turn a world from bright to dark,
From peaceful place to battleground.

Three years change lives from rich to poor,
As thirty shows a mother from the child of long before,
Three hundred years and now our family lines grow faint,
Three thousand and the peoples of a place rise strong then fall,
Three million as our ancestor first walked this earth upright,
Three billion as the start of all,
The soup of our primordial life.


THANK-YOU

Hi Paul, I very much appreciate your kind words, and it's fine to re-publish my poem here on the forum on this occasion, however this brings up issues about content that I'd like to write a little about which I hope proves valuable.

There are reasons why I point to my work which is published on my web sites, rather than publishing the work at Lunar Mission One. When I publish work on my sites I have full control over them. I, in common with numerous poets and artists of the past, often work on a piece, refining it over time. If for example you read a poet like Wordsworth, you'll know that his early drafts and published poems are different to those same poems published at a later date as he reflects upon and distills his thoughts. That's part of the nature of poetry.

For those who publish on the Internet, the evolving work can be far more easily updated than a book which would require a new edition to be printed. Internet publishing is far more aligned to life in so much as it is a changing and easily updated medium. Some treat work published on the Internet as if it is the same as more traditional forms, but this fails to recognize its essential difference which is that the control to publish is no longer in the hands of the few, but the many.

There are those whose position is that once something is published it should be set in stone. While I believe consistency is important and perhaps necessary in some contexts (for example there are certain legal requirements depending on location that apply when updating content like the terms and conditions of a company website, commentary or opinion), nevertheless, adopting a principle of never changing content once it has been published is unwise.

Let's take criticism as an example of when one might wish to amend content. I may publicly state my views about an issue and find that other information comes to light that changes my opinion, or that my thoughts about an issue develop and become more nuanced. Change is how we grow and how we better understand one another and the world. Someone may wish to quote my original published opinion, and therefore if I change my views and update the page, I should make it plain that my ideas have evolved, and perhaps when. For creative works like art, music, and creative writing however, there is no good reason I can think of why any such notification should be given. If anyone has views on this I'll value hearing them.

I therefore believe the originator should have the right to amend their contribution, and this is essentially a political position - it comes down to asserting authority over published content, and again, my view is that contributors should maintain certain rights of control. I began a topic on this issue on the LM1 forum, however the conversation was rather unhelpfully closed down - perhaps I'll re-open the dialog, but I was hoping others might step into the conversation before replying:

lunarmissionone.com/forum/creative/108-l...butor-agreement.html

While originators can edit their work on this forum, if their words or other contributions are published outside this context (perhaps on the main LM1 site) their rights are unclear. As I have stated elsewhere, transparency is essential, especially when an organization seeks to work with a community.

Paul, I'll return to my poem and artwork. I often try to make my work better, and for poetry this is especially true. Poetry is an attempt to convey often complex ideas with few words. The rhythm of poetry is especially important to me - I view this along with the sound of the words as the poem's music, and it is the music of a poem that raises it's emotional connection with the reader. I've already changed a few key moments in the poem and I may change more when I re-visit it at a later date. Here is my latest effort:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Three Billion Years

Three seconds pass,
At rest: our human breath from ebb and flow,
In this we sense what time could be.

Three minutes trip,
From soft of bread to crisp of toast,
Our time begins its mystery.

Three hours pass,
An ample span for knowing strangers new,
Too much to be in sadness save for fostered friendship fettered few.

Three days are long,
Enough to be in love forever bound,
For loss to turn a world from bright to dark,
From peaceful place to battleground.

Three years change lives from rich to poor,
Thirty more now mother from the child of long before,
Three hundred years: our family lines grow faint,
Three thousand and the peoples of a place rise strong then fall,
Three million as our ancestor first walked this earth upright,
Three billion as the start of all,
The soup of our primordial life.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In closing, and as usual, I have written far too many words, but I hope they show my respect in my effort in answering your questions. You may enjoy the latest changes to the poem more, or less. At the very least I hope our exchange serves to encourage people in their interest of poetry

Mike

'Change is how we grow and how we better understand one another and the world'

Yes I believe this to be true...Now, at this later age I find I am more interested in things I would never dream I'd have been interested in when younger.

I remember saying flippantly (although it was with tongue firmly planted in cheek) that I wish PLUTO was still classified as a PLANET and the wonderful Professor Rotheray (think that's the correct spelling?) took me a little to task and that the new rules applied indicated it was no longer such a thing...I can honestly understand that if those are the rules!

But as a child i was brought up knowing Pluto was a planet so I was understandably disappointed when it wasn't anymore...yes i understand the reclassification but it was still a little sad (for me)
We evolve, we learn, things change and as you say this is how we grow...I still have far to go and we'll never ever quiet get there

The updated poem is just as good Mike...the small change of (Our) Time Begins it's Mystery is for me a better one.

You are without doubt an intellectual Mike, far more than and we are fortunate to have you as a member of this mission.

Pluto is a planet if you wish it to be!

A thing doesn't change just because a few people say it does

Those are the rules Mike...and if PLUTO is no longer classified as a PLANET I'm willing to except that although in my child's part of my brain it still is