Tomorrow, July 20th, 2009, is the anniversary of the first moon landing. In honor of the occasion, and because I’m a total space nut, and have watched the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon, which dramatized the history of the Apollo missions, our theme from now til mid-August (really) is SPACE.
Personally, I find inspiration when I look up at the stars and imagine. So do a lot of others, including those who’ve actually been out there, which is why our prompt quotations this month are all taken from the Space Poetry page, at the Encyclopedia Astronautica. Please visit the page for the complete text of the poems I’ve chosen.

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Option One: Timed Writing

When I was a kid, we had 9 planets
and they were all in a neat line to the right of the Sun
(which was just a big slice of yellow)
and we liked it that way!

And Mars had canals
(and maybe ancient cities and certainly some simple vegetation),

Venus was a swamp full of dinosaurs
and exotic plants,

Mercury roasted on one side
and froze on the other all the time,
except for this Twilight Zone area on its terminator
where some kind of life
could exist.
But otherwise
it probably looked just like Earth’s Moon.
You know, with all those craters that came from volcanic eruptions.
~ Larry Klaes

Take eleven minutes (use all eleven, but don’t go over), and write on the subject of when you were a kid.
This is a timed exercise and it’s expected that it won’t be perfect. Any format – fiction, essay, verse – is welcome.

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Option Two: Seven Things

“…my father replies that we are made to live here.
We need air to breathe,
water to drink,
we suffocate without air and water:
so why go (into space)?”

“For the same reason
that makes us bring children into the world.

Because we’re afraid of death and darkness,
and because we want to see our image reflected
and perpetuated to immortality.

We don’t want to die,
but death is there,
and because it’s there we give birth to children
who’ll give birth to other children and so on to infinity.

And this way we are handed down to eternity.
~ Ray Bradbury, as recounted by Oriana Fallaci, in If the Sun Dies

In improvisation, one of our exercises is a game called “Seven Things,” in which we go around in a circle giving each other the challenge, “Give me seven things that [whatever].” We are not going to go around in a circle here, but if you’re drawn to lists, this prompt is for you.

Give me seven things that represent your legacy to the future. These can be real or imagined, physical or intangible. Have fun with it. As always, explanations are welcome, but obligatory.

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Option Three: Pick Three

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

~John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Pick at least three of the following words, and build a piece of writing around them. The form is up to you: poem, scene, flash-fic, essay, or general blog entry. If you want to be really daring, write in the style of Milne. (As always, you can pluralize, change tense, or alter the part of speech, if necessary.)
air, burning, craft, eagle,sanctity, space, surly, trespass

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Option Four: Can You Picture That?
Use the the following photo to inspire a piece of writing in any form (poetry, prose, whatever).
(Please remember to copy the image to your own server, and include photo credit when it is known.)

Photo Credit: iStockPhoto
Click for larger image.

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Option Five: Poetry

these are the laws of physics
immutable as those of Medes & Persians:

you, frailness of flesh & skin
wrapped in only blueprints & hope
to plunge through furnace of plasma
burning, blasted, luminous beyond mach-molten:
torn molecules, pink & purple,
cremating you as sati to the sky.

if all goes well, you shall fly
as a butterfly bolted to a bullet.
if not, your only grave shall be
Schlieren lines across a shocked sky.

to strangers,
your death shall be as beautiful as fireworks.
but to those who knew you:
grief.

they vanished
became sky:
a rain of metal tears
upon the land.

breaking,
that contrail became cenotaph:
a wreath we laid
on our voyage to worlds.
~ Keith Gottschalk

Using the quotation above as your inspiration, write a poem (any form is fine) about breaking the laws of physics

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Option Six: Fiction

We sail onboard space station “Alpha”
Orbiting high above Earth, still in night
Traveling our destined journey
beyond realm of sea voyage or flight
A first New Year is upon us
Eight strikes on the bell now as one
The globe spins below on its motion
Counting the last thousand years done.
15 midnights to this night in orbit
A clockwork not of earthly pace
Our day with different meaning now
In this, a new age and place
We move with a speed and time
Past that which human hands can tell
Computers programmed-like boxes
Where only thoughts’ shadows dwell

~ William Shepherd, from the log of the ISS Alpha 1, January 1, 2001.

Using the above quotation as your inspiration, write a flash-fic, scene, or short story involving celebrating the turn of the year…in Space.

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Don’t forget to comment here with your name, the title of your piece, the selected option number, and the direct link to it.

Happy Writing, and Happy Stargazing