{"poems":[{"id":"D5B6A1DA-BE35-508D-87C2-642D5190D402","title":"An ode to our Moon","author":"Jatan Mehta","content":"A blaze aloft at night\nsent a glimmer of hope\nflying past the desolation\n\nIt ignites around Moonshine,\nso we can all dazzle\nat the suspended blue marble\n\nIt twinkles again across the void\nfor a blistering comeback,\nand a tactful splash\n\nLet’s keep the path glowing\nfor these engines of progress,\nso we can ferociously return\n\nTo our cosmic companion,\nlike never before.","source":"api","sourceName":"Seven uni-verses · jatan.space","sourceURL":"https://jatan.space/an-ode-to-our-moon/","rightsNotice":"© Jatan Mehta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2022},{"id":"031D89AE-64B2-5898-AFD8-71CFDB88D7AA","title":"Triple sunset","author":"Jatan Mehta","content":"Here lies the bathing light of the red dragon,\ndeepening horizons on a world so foreign\n\nYet much like a haven that is our Earth,\nthere could be water on its surface unhurt\n\nCould there be life too on this land of the triple-star,\nwould they also figure out who they are?\n\nWould they comprehend the distant binary-star show?\nthat they are the suns of the one they know\n\nOh what a view it would be,\nfor life there to see\nBut if on that world\nthere isn’t any,\nlet it be the carved destiny of humanity.","source":"api","sourceName":"Seven uni-verses (2025 collection) · jatan.space","sourceURL":"https://jatan.space/triple-sunset/","rightsNotice":"© Jatan Mehta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2025},{"id":"83936318-1481-552D-A3BC-A3571A41BA20","title":"Does life really have a purpose?","author":"Jatan Mehta","content":"Space is vast, near-infinite and empty,\nbut only so much of it can we see\n\nStuck in a direction of time are we,\nand yet we claim how we came to be\n\nWelcome to space-time’s infinite array,\nwhere everything lies farther and farther away\n\nMagnificent galaxies may be big and bright,\nbut their separation speaks stronger than their light\n\nEven the stars are not as close as it seems,\nmere little dots that hold distant dreams\nYet even those dots can be the most violent of all,\nmassive supernovae and gamma ray bursts leading their fall\n\nThis is a Universe where the stars are born to die,\nsome form black holes and to space-time they can lie\n\nEven the smaller stars are hostile in time,\nas are their planets that were once benign\n\nSpace is cold, and time unforgiving,\nspace is harsh, and with time it defies living\n\nWhat is then the purpose of life?\nOr are we just a roll of a dice?\nLife is purposeless and meaningless,\nfor every sentient species is ultimately alone\nin the vast space-time emptiness.","source":"api","sourceName":"Seven uni-verses (2025 collection) · jatan.space","sourceURL":"https://jatan.space/the-purpose-of-life/","rightsNotice":"© Jatan Mehta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2025},{"id":"7A0EC657-1379-5CBD-A5F6-7A9FCC2BA0B7","title":"Our galaxy awaits","author":"Jatan Mehta","content":"The first view of our galaxy awaits,\nthe lights of billions of suns\n\nYet each star a destination of its own,\nout of reach for millennia unknown\n\nYou see, us a species still in cradle Earth,\nour ability to spread life still a dearth\n\nAwait the Moon, the asteroids, Titan, and Mars,\nat all of their dawn but a gaze at the stars\n\nThough without the will and wit to pull it off,\nan interplanetary dream by itself is not enough\nNeed an eye for the details,\na rigor to pick up leftover trails\n\nAn incessant readiness for discourse and critique,\nand the patience to inspire and teach\n\nAll of this is what you possess,\nwith a forgiving nature, no less\n\nEvery such Sol can we not iterate,\nand set ablaze life to proliferate\nNeed but a gravity assist to set things straight,\nbeyond which the first view of our galaxy awaits.","source":"api","sourceName":"Seven uni-verses · jatan.space","sourceURL":"https://jatan.space/space-dreams/","rightsNotice":"© Jatan Mehta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2019},{"id":"DCAC3EE8-1A74-566B-932E-5ED1702BB8AE","title":"Dream, we must","author":"Jatan Mehta","content":"Dream, we must!\nOr risk our species blown to dust\n\nFor a future that extends beyond the sky,\nthe time to act is nigh\n\nAn orchestrated descent to the Moon,\nand an iterative rendezvous with an asteroid\n\nCarry on with your dream,\nand get past the crater’s rim\n\nFor you have not just the innate curiosity,\nbut also the warmth of empathy\n\nPersistently crack the seven minutes of terror,\nand then be the Solar System torch bearer\n\nA whirl around Jupiter,\nand a landing on Europa\nA dive through the rings of Saturn,\nand a glide above the seas of Titan\n\nThe first orbit around mysterious Uranus,\nand a swift passage through Triton’s geysers\n\nWith perseverance and might,\n\nreign in the peaks of eternal light.","source":"api","sourceName":"Seven uni-verses · jatan.space","sourceURL":"https://jatan.space/space-dreams/","rightsNotice":"© Jatan Mehta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2019},{"id":"E41385A7-B2AD-5982-929F-2E09C1DDA3FD","title":"My Life as a Talker","author":"Dave Bonta","content":"what does the wind\nhave to say to me\n\nas much as I let it\nout of my voice box\n\nit takes things too far\nas a matter of course\n\nblows things all\nout of proportion\n\nand nothing it says can\never be taken back","source":"api","sourceName":"Via Negativa (2026)","sourceURL":"https://www.vianegativa.us/2026/08/my-life-as-a-talker/","rightsNotice":"© Dave Bonta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2026},{"id":"2367CEFD-D1F7-5711-9091-A3BCD113527A","title":"Haircut","author":"Dave Bonta","content":"an account of the morning\nsitting at the barber’s\n\nmy thoughts wear off\nlight as thin ice\n\nhow matters stand\nwith the world troubled\n\nhow other minds\nwould loiter","source":"api","sourceName":"Via Negativa (2026)","sourceURL":"https://www.vianegativa.us/2026/08/haircut-2/","rightsNotice":"© Dave Bonta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.\nErasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 29 August 1663 . http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/29/","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2026},{"id":"E20CB545-42B8-51A5-B2A6-09F7433F7A14","title":"Long haul","author":"Dave Bonta","content":"all-night road\nthe numb men borne on it\ntire","source":"api","sourceName":"Via Negativa (2026)","sourceURL":"https://www.vianegativa.us/2026/08/long-haul/","rightsNotice":"© Dave Bonta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.\nErasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 28 August 1663 . http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/28/","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2026},{"id":"14B37954-5477-58A2-939F-4920E3F0EC12","title":"Veteran","author":"Dave Bonta","content":"from the river\na cold body\n\nfrom each flower\na fruit\na perfect stranger\n\nfrom the service\nno one I ought to be","source":"api","sourceName":"Via Negativa (2026)","sourceURL":"https://www.vianegativa.us/2026/08/veteran-3/","rightsNotice":"© Dave Bonta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.\nErasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 27 August 1663 . http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/27/","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2026},{"id":"0BA7CE65-720A-57CA-98A9-63973FB42276","title":"Employees","author":"Dave Bonta","content":"in an office of ice\nwe sat with coffee\n\nin an age gone dark\nthe end of all work\n\nI went out into\nthe leaden street\n\nmen carried the weight of the fields\nthrough the city","source":"api","sourceName":"Via Negativa (2026)","sourceURL":"https://www.vianegativa.us/2026/08/employees/","rightsNotice":"© Dave Bonta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.\nErasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 25 August 1663 . http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/25/","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2026},{"id":"8E081E85-4875-5C1C-BFE9-A3DB6F3BEFD2","title":"Floodplain","author":"Dave Bonta","content":"love and fear live\nin the presence of the river\n\na red handprint ought to give\na go-home goodbye\n\nthe water unclean\nmaking matters unclear","source":"api","sourceName":"Via Negativa (2026)","sourceURL":"https://www.vianegativa.us/2026/08/floodplain-2/","rightsNotice":"© Dave Bonta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.\nErasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 24 August 1663 . http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/24/","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2026},{"id":"F12E8C23-C64F-565F-92C2-0A6FF54C56B1","title":"Down to earth","author":"Dave Bonta","content":"a church without dirt\nis no home to our hope\n\nwe live in a poem\nnever read\n\nlike a road\nending in doubt","source":"api","sourceName":"Via Negativa (2026)","sourceURL":"https://www.vianegativa.us/2026/08/down-to-earth-3/","rightsNotice":"© Dave Bonta. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Plain-text formatting by PotD, shared under the same license.\nErasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 23 August 1663 . http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1663/08/23/","rightsURL":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","publicationYear":2026}],"total":12,"offset":0,"limit":30}