GREETINGS from Michael Ricciardi

   I would like my first post on RT to serve also as my introduction. I am a poet, teacher, and multi-media artist living in Seattle, WA. I have been perfoming poetry [solo, and with multi-media/live music accompaniment] since 1991 with performances/readings [coffee houses, theatres, clubs, festivals] on both coasts. In that time I also produced three, mixed genre chapbooks ['amer arcana', 1993, 'Zygote Flux', 1998, 'Space Junk', 2003], with one chapbook, 'Emergeometry', published through Warm Mango Press/Danika Dinsmore in 2001. 
    In 1998, I was a member of the Seattle National Slam Team and participated in the National Poetry Slam in Austin, TX of that year.

   I stopped doing the slam after that year to pursue reseach and experimentation into other forms of poetry--specifically visual poetry and hybrid genres such as video/cine-poetry as well as 'cyberpoetry' and other new media manifestations. This culminated in the curating and production of 'Future For WORD' (you can view a ten minute promo doc of the Ex. at www.futureforword.org), a multi-media [now all electronic] exhibition of visual, experimental, interactive, and new media poetry ("poetry by other means...to the extreme." as I like to say) for the Seattle Poetry Festival, 2002, and the Bumbershoot Arts Festival, 2003.

   Recently [March, 2004], I submitted a paper proposal/abstract to the ESA/LEONARDO Conference Bureau for inclusion in the 7th Workshop On Space and the Arts, co-hosted by ESA [the European Space Agency], IAA [International Astronautics Association], and the OLATS/OURS Foundations. My abstract was one of 36 selected [out of 100+] to be presented at the conference in May of 2004, at ESTEC [the main headquarters for ESA] in Noordwijk, NL. My paper is entitled:

'The Exquisite Cosmonaut ~ Towards A Collaborative Poetics In Space'

   ..the paper will be published on the OLATS site at the end of this month, and by ESA [in print form] at the end of the summer. I have included a section form the introduction below, and I welcome any comments and suggestions...oh, if you wish me to send you the entire paper [8 pages] I can do so, in either WORD or PDF formats.

Thank you, and I hope to engage a few poetic minds while I'm here!--Michael Ricciardi


[intro to my paper]


The Exquisite Cosmonaut
Towards A Collaborative Poetics In Space

Michael Anthony Ricciardi
National Poetry Association
Marz62@yahoo.com

"They should have sent a poet." --From the novel Contact, by Carl Sagan


   So, what was Carl talking about? Perhaps, confronted with the immense and stunning beauty of the cosmos, and compelled to describe or express this experience, scientific language alone just doesn't cut it. For however abstract or intellectually complex our descriptions and representations may be, there is yet a profound and continuous emotional experience connected with the [long-term] scientific exploration of space.

   Although astro-physicists, space engineers, and cosmo/astronauts alike may think in terms of science and mathematics--can even communicate vast and complex knowledge in the form of equations and technical information--they still find the need to communicate this knowledge through language. Scientists still find the need to visualize their understanding, and hence the need for metaphor and imagery in scientific writings, especially those geared for a wider, educated audience. Verbal and textual metaphor is the stock in trade of the poet. Poetic expression is a bridge between the intellect and the emotional self. Poetry is capable of expressing [simultaneously] both complex understanding and profound emotionality. The poet does not so rigidly separate thinking and feeling. Science teaches us how to think about space and time, not how to feel about it.

   Unconsciously, we are all poets, or engaged in poetics, every moment, in the sense that we are 'making' [the meaning of poietes] reality, through myriad sensorial and cognitive/sub-cognitive processes, constructing a world. Indeed the sheer act of being is a poetic experience. Reciprocally, we make and are made by existence. When we consciously see this, we can participate in this existential poetics. Its expressions are endless.

Encountering the Unexpected

   As we continue our explorations of the cosmos, does anyone doubt that there will be surprises? Our universe has had 13 billion years to evolve its macro-scale features and its sub-quantum logic. Astronomers and astro-physicists have only recently verified the existence of varied sized black holes in our own galaxy. What marvels await us beyond that star cluster, or upon some distant moon? And when that moment comes again, when the science has not caught up to the perception, to the experience, how will language serve us in our descriptive imperatives? The momentous perception, the profound experience, will have made its mark on the psyche before its proper [or conscious] significance--in relation to what is known, in relation to the self and its awareness--is understood. If 'Language is the sin qua non of that experience we call mind' [The Tree Of Knowledge, Maturana/Varela], then poetry is its 'lingua franca'...'poiesis': making. As we speak and write, so we do build. And wheresoever our human destiny takes us, poetry, in some form, will go with us.

A Space Station Is a Space Habitat

   The ISS Alpha is not merely an orbiting laboratory [how many earth scientists do you know that have spent 128 days in the lab?], but a home in space. As such, it must also satisfy/fulfill all those human needs that we associate with a 'living space', including the human needs for transcendence, beauty, enjoyment, and inspiration. Thus does this paper assert: the right of people everywhere to seek inspiration, that is, to participate in the poetics of being.

ASTRONAUTS/COMSONAUTS AS EXTENIONS OF HUMAN CURIOSITY

  'I wanted to be a spaceman / that's what I wanted to be / But now that I am a spaceman / Nobody cares about me' --Nielson

   In 'Understanding Media ~ The Extensions of Man', culture guru Marshall McLuhan posits all media and technology as 'extensions of our senses'. This makes intuitive sense. And so we may take this theory and extrapolate it to space exploration, that is, that our space probes, telescopes, satellites--and especially for our purposes, astronauts--are like-wise extensions of our senses. But even more than this, when we reflect on the 'what' and 'why' of things, we realize that the cosmonaut is an embodiment of a fundamental human trait: curiosity, the drive to know. Perhaps this helps elucidate that profound connection we have with those who risk so much to explore space, which is to say, the future.

   In this sense then, astronauts can be viewed as "remote sensors" or extensions of human perception, intellectual striving, and, in the context of our search for life beyond earth, a deep, psychological longing. Indeed, the sheer state of being in space is an extraordinary human experience. We do in fact care greatly about our space explorers; we want to know. Through our astronauts, we all participate in the exploration of space, and through a 'collaborative poetics' we all can share in the creative expression of this experience.

   In 'The Unexpected Universe' anthropologist and science literati Loren Eiseley wrote: "Spider thoughts in a spider universe--sensitive to raindrop and moth flutter, nothing beyond. What is it we are a part of that we do not see?" This is a wonderfully apt and poetic observation. And if Walt Whitman was alive to ponder it, I sense he would respond with his poetry:
 
"my words go after what my eyes cannot see, with the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds, and volumes of worlds"

   And that is it, really. Poetry is an aid to human imagination. It gives us the means to describe what is not yet known, not yet 'in view'. When what is hidden is suddenly revealed, we are surprised. This is as true for a poem as for a pulsar. So, in considering the place of poetry in space exploration, and in light of Whitman's tongue twirling, what are we more 'a part of', that is yet beyond our [normal] senses, than the cosmos itself?
 
Unexpected Affinities

   In attempting to understand how an astronaut might feel about poetry, or whether astronauts or cosmonauts actually wrote poetry, I commenced with a 'google' search on 'Poetry By Astronauts'…and got thirty thousand pages [that's 300,000 sites] of links of poetry FOR the astronauts, or with astronaut themes; many of these memorializing the Challenger and Columbia disasters...some touchingly naive or woefully unskilled, others more learned, and more artful. Some possessed that rare combination of qualities that make for excellence, that is, deeply moving poetry. But whichever, I beheld a vast poetic outpouring of grief and loss and renewed hope. We may not answer here the question of the role of poetry in space, or space in poetry, but there is abundant evidence of a profound connection between the poetic soul and the habitation and exploration of space.
 
   Poets have a special [perhaps transcendent] affinity for astronauts. We earth-dwellers hear of their doings from time to time amidst the daily deluge of war, injustice, and tragedy, and suddenly, there they are again: cosmonauts walking in space, astronauts repairing a defective panel [repairs remind us that where ever we go, we will always be doing maintenance]...and we are reminded of both how far we've come, how far we've yet to go, and we rededicate our earthly, human hopes/dreams to those brave men and women who do not simply dream, but who physically engage the actualization of this dream.

BEYOND SOLITUDE / BEYOND COOL

   Though traditionally held to be a solitary endeavor, poetry--be it spoken or written--can be a powerful and effective means of bringing people closer and enabling a sense of shared purpose and understanding. Thus this paper focuses on collaborative poetics--poetry created not in isolation, but in nearly continuous communication.

   Also, collaborative poetics in an orbital environment, or between space and earth environments, needs to be more than simply something 'cool'; some slick new configuration of technologies or the latest-greatest display interface [though these do have a place]. We can propose myriad ideas and uses of technology for poetry in earth orbit, but ultimately, we must decide what all this fancy, literary 'techno-ism' is doing--what we are doing. Are we doing this just to see if we can, merely to say that we did it? Yes, there is some value in doing something for the sheer joy of doing it. John Cage has said, "The greatest purpose is to have no purpose". But how can we propose collaborative poetry [a time-consuming, technically challenging endeavor] for the 'purpose of no purpose'? And what then is the purpose, value, and meaning of such poetics? If it is to be 'omni-inter-accommodative' (a Bucky Fuller concept) to the astronauts and their environment, if it is to offer the possibility of shared, creative work, and at the same time, be a source of, and a means for, granting insight and/or the revealing of purpose and meaning, then it has potentially great value in my view.

   Supposedly, we have the technology to laser project onto the moon, and laser write on the atmosphere [ionosphere]. And one could argue, that the day is nigh when such technology will be exploited for commercial purposes [visualize this: as the sunclipse unfolds, a slow fade-in of gigantic text condenses amidst the purple, pink, and gold vapors: Try New & Improved PO-EX...]. And so, we should therefore preempt commercial use with artful use, though this is likely to be as controversial as the commercial use. This 'art first' viewpoint may have some validity, but again, I must always ask: what is the purpose of such a use--to do something radically, technologically new ["I did it first"]? To make a really impressive addition to one's resume? And then, there are the 'political' concerns: whose poetry? What language, what form, and what content? The moon and sky belong to no one, to everyone. Space art must strive always to balance the personal with the universal.

A Cautionary Note On 'Other People's Poetry'

    In The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adam's outrageous take on space exploration [and exploitation], we are given the cautionary example of "Vogon poetry"—-an alien poetry so vile and offensive that anyone unlucky enough to hear it is immediately convulsed with nausea and/or the sudden impulse to commit suicide. In considering the creation/displaying of 'other people's poetry', I like to remind my self of this fictional poetic form, and so, espouse collaborative works which have multiple authorship, and are, at least interesting [in terms of process and contributing thought], if not of 'stellar' quality. Collaborative poetry does not guarantee quality poetry, but, due to its collective nature, it is often profoundly revelatory, and nearly always, great fun.