‘Seeing poetry in the cosmos’

BY CASSANDRA CAVALLARO

UNESCO World Poetry Day, marked annually on 21 March, celebrates how poetry speaks to our common humanity and shared values, making it a catalyst for dialogue and peace.

Art and science have been linked throughout history, and Team SKA only needed a little encouragement to pen some poems for the occasion. A wider collection is featured on our Instagram page

Marking World Poetry Day helps to remind us that even mega-science projects are at their core human endeavours.

Dr Andrew Stevenson, former assistant manager at the Australian SKA Office, wrote 21 haikus for the occasion, a selection of which are below. He says: “Scientists are also in awe of nature, and find it sublime and humbling. Behind all that scientific method and equipment are real people, with real feelings about the world, who see poetry in the cosmos, and the structures they build to study it.”

Beamforming

Bristling alloy spines, Motionless, yet steered at will. Knowledge falls like rain.

Induction

An electron moves; Ten billion light years distant, Another is moved.

Redshift

Photons stretch like silk – This web sparkles like dew drops. A galaxy is caught.

The Space Between Filaments

Giant Cosmic Void –a trillion ghosts stare inwards. None venture here.

By Dr Andrew Stevenson

Former Assistant Manager, Australian SKA Office and Astronomy Branch, Department of Industry, Science and Resources