Reflections Upon A Beautiful Vision:
Poems For Hyakutake!


This image of the comet core was taken by the ESO in Chile. Click on this image for a larger version. The European Southern Observatory consistently has the most unusually beautiful graphics of astronomical events! You can find them at http://www.eso.org/

Below are an incomplete but growing list of poems written by my students and students from around the state and beyond (as we get them). The challenge was to think of Haiku's as a first type, because of the name of the comet, named after an amateur but avid comet hunter who is Japanese.

The following was given as an example to use (written by Cory Wisnia 3-24-96)

Starlit comet sails
Diaphanous tail trailing
Hyakutake

FYI: A NEW web page has been started for poetry which isn't about the Comet or Astronomy but is about nature or science-related topics. You can find the Student Science & Nature Poetry Center at either our most updated, but slower server at: ...http://www.mms.mendocino.k12.ca.us/ms/cur/cw/Science_Poetry/Poetry.html

Here is a sampling so far (The latest poems are at the TOP):

latest Posting: 6-4-96
From the class of Jean Stringer, St. Julie Billiart School, Hamilton, Ohio, USA, Eighth Grade

Burning in the night sky like
a shining star and
with a sparkley tail to match

Lindsey Turco

Briliantly burning light looks
most perfect at night.
It can hurt some people's sight.

Jenny North

Look up in the clear dark sky,
the comet goes by.
Oh how I wish I could fly.

By: Sara Calvert

COMET

------- Streaking across the night sky,
Flying way up high,
Its tail shimmered behind it,
Now we say goodby,
For it just went streaking by.

Alex

Burning like a flame so bright,
Will you come tonight?
Your glowing tail a spotlight.

Chad

|---------|
|The Comet|
|=========|

I see a wonderful comet
passing through the sky
how beautiful it is

by: John Lisec

Hyakutake
Coments in the sky
pretty as a crystal ball
glowing so brightly

Christina

Your bright flame left all that light
Racing through the sky
On that very dark, stary night

Emily

COMETS

Fire flies in the ebony sky,
wish on one if seen.
They will appear and disappear,
but dreams never leave.

By: Katherine G.

Here are some poems from the 3rd grade students at P.S.279, Brooklyn, N.Y. Teacher - Harriet Stolzenberg (HStolz@aol.com). Ms. Stolzenberg says that her class enjoys receiving letters!

It's sparkling so bright
Moving at the speed of light
The comet is here!

Jared Kraminitz

Comets are burning
With gas and light in the sky
They are rare to see.

Ilisa Guarneri

The comet was bright
With white and blue around it
And a long, long tail.

Samantha Straus

Comets come in shapes
They come in many sizes
You may not see them.

Hollis Burnett

Hyakutake, Hi!
Hyakutake is here, see!
The great bright comet.

Dylan Byron

The comet was bright
In the very lovely night
Could it pass today?

Aisha Neil

A comet is bright
It is a big ball of gas
They are up in space.

Kristen Schlarb

I saw a comet
It is called Hyakutake
It was beautiful!

Jessica Lee

I am like a star
My name is Haley's Comet
I am so pretty!

Rebecca Isacowitz

Gas balls in the sky
They look so good way up high
Look at them fly by!

Bobby Holness

Here is a Quicktake photo of the members of this P.S.279 class!

Brigitte Huff, 8th grade, Mendocino Middle School, Mendocino California

I stand below that
Spotlight of starlight shone down
Hyakutake

A series of Haikus from teacher Scott Hays' class at Coffee Creek Elementary School, in Trinity County, California

Jessica Vandergrift, 8th grade

a large chunk of ice
passing through nearby heavens
lights up countless lives

Jeff Spliethof, 7th grade

A powdery tail
chases after glowing head
still in the night sky

Amber Wurth, 5th grade

Standing rooted firm
an arc of light passing by
sparkling overhead

Scott Hays, teacher

bright diamond like dust
sprinkled through the night sky like
fine grains of sugar

Here is a longer poem, written by Solange Roberdeau, 8th grade, Mendocino Middle School

LEO'S JUNGLE

I lay lying
a bed of stars embellish me
my second self is sleeping
Slipping away I once wandered that place,
that mysterious realm...
So far away, yet within my grasp.
I danced down the creases of Orion's belt
And swim in the pools of the Milky Way.
Shooting stars & flaming comets
light my way, carressing my cheeks
with their flickering tails.
I slip through Cancer's claws
And crouch in Leo's jungle of
mesh fishing-nets & lover's glances.
As I seep back into myself
Into that world of promises & denial.
I wonder...
Wonder why and how and...
If so...
WHEN?

A poem by Ruth Carrison, 8th grade, Mendocino Middle School, called "Blue"

Blue is the sun in a sunset of sadness
when the sky is dreaming in
a midnight of madness
and the stars have fallen
with fear

Bohdanya Passyka, 8th grade, Mendocino Middle School

Blue green ball of light
Blind my eyes with all your might
On your cosmic flight

Joe Barham, 8th grade, Mendocino Middle School

Fuzzy glow across the sky,
Sparkling green shining so bright,
Shooting across the dark sky,
Being powered by the stars it passes by,
Oh I hope Hyakutake never dies.

Here are some Haikus and similar poem structures,from Anne Jenk's 6th Grade Class at Mendocino Middle School. Thank you, class!

Gabriella Bolton

Green, yellow, gold, white
twinkling bright and glowing light
only seen at night.

Ethan Simpson

So bright and shiny,
a long sparkly tail.
Be on the lookout - I'm close.

Jacob Clapsadle

Blazing fireball
upstaging every white star -
Hyakutake.

Libby Lane

A comet looking
like a fuzzy star
moves slowly through the dark sky.

Nicole Turley

The big ball of light
is shining in the night sky
so bright, yet so far away.

Fletcher Pinkham

Burning ball of gas
lights up the sky we're under
Hyakutake

Noah Harris

Bright colors are flying fast
through the dark night sky
like a fiery torch.

Ryan Brown

The comet in the sky said,
"Hi," as it flew by
and I said, "Goodbye."

Carl Fick

Brighter than the brightest star
it moved like the wind,
Hyakutake.

Elizabeth Murray

The comet burned
with the brightness of a star
running through the evening sky.

Keri Gaskins

The comet was bright at night,
but when the sun came,
it was not bright anymore.

Alex Cruz

Burning off your gas
to make a tail bright and long
that points from the sun.

Micah Press

A comet flying through the sky
looks pale and shiny
like a miniature moon.

Adam Taylor

A big moon on fire
Shoots quickly through the dark sky;
the comet is bright.

Riley Kiesel

Hyakutake's tail
looks like long hair in the wind
blowing through the stars.

Sean Cleary

Big and bright, long and shiny,
flickering, flashing
moving in the sky.

Melissa Burdick

Beautiful, bright light,
fly as you might through the sky,
but now your time has come - go.

Prairie Baumann

Golden star so bright,
fly through the night sky
than vanish in time tonight.

Michael Daniels

It flys through the air
with a tail like a big cat's
once in twenty thousand years.

Michael Cone

The large, bright comet
streaking across the big sky -
its bright tail flying behind.

Sarah Hagen

There's a comet in the sky;
Hyakutake up there,
so beautiful in the dark.

watch this space for more poetry & maybe some more student art!

If you are a teacher or student and would like to see your own comet Haiku posted, or your students have illustrations of the comet you would like to see on-line, you can write to Cory Wisnia at cwisnia@mcn.org. Please include your name, grade level, whether you are a teacher or student, school and location of school (state, country, etc.) I will post haikus at irregular intervals! If you have black and white images, they can be faxed to us at 707-937-4753. If you have color images and can scan then to a disc (Mac) as a pic file, we can turn them into gifs and post them in color! You can either mail them or we can maybe try to get them over the net as attachments. Our snail mail address is: Student Comet Illustrations, Mendocino Middle School, POB 226, Mendocino CA 95460

You can send comments to:cwisnia@mcn.org

You can send comments, questions or poems to: cwisnia@mcn.org

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