| Broadcast
580 (Special Edition) |  Listen to the show! | | Aired on March 22nd, 2009 | | Guest: Jim Funaro |
| DEEP SPACE MESSAGE:
Hello to anyone listening out there and Space Show listeners. I'm the host of The Space Show, Dr. David Livingston, and The Space Show is now bringing you another Deep Space Message. This message comes to you from Jim Funaro of Port Townsend, WA on behalf of The Space Show. We appreciate your participating in our Deep Space Program.
Dr. David Livingston, Host
The Space Show
Deep Space Message from Jim Funaro:
LAST DAY IN CIRCE’S CAVE
© Jim Funaro 1990
Here in your cave for the last time, bemused, I lie and watch light shadows dance like water music Across this streamcarved ceiling I've come to know too well.
Is your artist river, like aging Michelangelo, so near to heaven He works the stone only enough to complete the image in his mind; Or, so unimpressed by organic details, he loses interest, leaving Only roughcut shapes of gods and demons locked in final contest To decide who shall rule the world of unconsulted men?
Here, sweet witch, you turned me into every animal you knew Or had invented in the thousand years of practicing your craft.
And I, sunblind from your hair, performed to your intricate tastes.
But ... how did you know I would not use my sword?
You led me underground, through twisting passageways, Introduced me to exotic nightime beasts, your playmates since childhood, And made me open Pandora's toychest, knowing its contents, Once unleashed, could never be bundled back inside by any man.
Though, tell me now! Didn't you really hope I'd have the skill?
As the star wheel spun unnoticed, we tried to find love's limits Till my flesh was raw, every nerve exposed to amplify my senses, While my skin hung forgotten on its peg, watching us from the wall, Fingers limp, loose boneless face a wrinkled mask of fear.
And yet, at last seeing my distress, O goddess, You helped me build my boat with your own delicate hands And taught me secrets of the wind and the courses of the stars And stood beside me as we raised the sail you cut from your own gown.
Till then, I had not understood how much you loved me.
And, yes, as I leave you once again, my constant love, I'll have to go through Hell before I reach my native shore.
But when a star bursts, its heartbreak dazzles galaxies; Our glorious wreckage will light my way, dear, there and home.
Now you, mistress of memories, will find another sailor for an age; And, freed by loss, I will fill my eyes with sky, burn sunstreaks in my face, Drink the spray, and ride the laughing sea beneath my feet once more.
_________________________
The Space Show wants to thank Jim Funaro for this important deep space message and poem for the benefit of all on the Space Show, of all mankind and humanity, and for anyone listening as this deep space message is transmitted throughout the solar system. Its a message for us all and our interstellar community.
Jim, thanks again from The Space Show.
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| About our guest... |
Jim Funaro
Jim Funaro is the founder of CONTACT, an annual conference which brings together space scientists, science fiction writers and artists to explore humanity's futures (visit www.contact-conference.com). Jim is professor emeritus in anthropology at Cabrillo College, which has honored him with its highest award for teaching excellence. Publications demonstrating his research interests are “Anthropologists a Culture Designers for Offworld Colonies” and “On the Cultural Impact of Extraterrestrial Contact.” His career has emphasized the connections between the arts and the sciences. Besides his graduate degrees in Anthropology, he has a BA cum laude in Literature and is a published poet; he won the American Anthropological Association’s 1997 prize for poetry with “The Dancing Stones of Callanish.”
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