Today we have Marc Latham’s Folding Mirror poem describing Saturn and some of its most distinguishing features.

Explanation

Saturn is a fascinating planet, and sodium was recently found on one of its moons, Enceladus, by the Cassini mission, giving hope for oceans under its ice exterior, and therefore hope of finding life.

Saturn’s rings also make it aesthetically beautiful, and it was seeing a photo of it that inspired this poem, with the rings dividing the gassy orb into north and south halves from afar.

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The title of the poem combines two of my favourite fictional narratives: Planet of the Apes and Lord of the Rings.

The folding middle line refers to how the rings were named in order of discovery rather than distance from Saturn; from Saturn the rings are in the order: D-C-B-A-F-G-E.

The Structure

The poem mirrors in words per line from outer to middle either side of the fold:
4-4-7-4-7-6-11-5 (15) 5-11-6-7-4-7-4-4

The top half of the planet is covered in the top half of the poem, and the same goes for the bottom halves of planet and poem.

The poem starts and ends with Saturn’s moons, with the outer lines working towards the middle through the planet’s auroras; I didn’t know about the auroras until reseaching the poem, and they are another feature the planet shares with Earth.

Extra Thought

Maybe one day people will travel to Saturn to see the planet’s auroras, moons and rings as we now travel to our poles to see the auroras, polar nights and wildlife/wilderness.

The Poem

Planet of the Rings

Titan, Rhea and Enceladus…
spherical moons accumulating dust;
the surface features water, rocks and valleys.
Orbiting the planet eternally,
if you were on one you’d see
Saturn’s north pole aurora curtains rise
one thousand miles out from the top half of the planet
burning hydrogen and helium above

Saturn’s seven icy rings named A to G, in order of discovery not alphabetically

above helium and hydrogen fuelled
lower orb of the world where the south pole solar winds
light a millennium of space time.
Looking out at moons of icy rock
circling with the precision
of the hands on an antiquated clock.
Amongst radiant rings reside
Tethys, Dione and Mimas…