Poetry in Orbit

It's all about the historic Apollo 11 moonwalk this week, marking the 40th anniversary. But while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin deserve their place in space history, they were two among many men (and women) who risked their lives to venture into the uncharted territory of space. Case in point: Welsh poet Meirion Jordan pays tribute to the Russian cosmonauts in the epilogue of Moonrise, a lovely collection of poems with strong science themes (h/t: In the Dark):I, Yuri Gagarin, having not seen God,wake now to the scrollwork of a body,to my own white fibres leafing into the bone:know that beyond this dome of rain there isonly the nothing where the soul sweersout its parallax like a distant star and truthbrightens to X, to gamma, through a metal sail.So I return to you, cramming your pocketswith the atmosphere and the evening news,fumbling for gardens in the moon’s shadow,in its waterfalls of silence. I wish for youfamiliar towns, their piers and amusement arcadesunpeopled at dusk, the unicorn tumbling byon china hooves behind the high wallsof parks, among congregating lamps.May you find Earth rising there, betweenyour steepled hands. May your voyagesend. May you have a cold unfurlingof limbs each morning, when I ...