Elephant trunks in the Eagle Nebula (M16)Astronomers, viewing the Eagle
Nebula, wonder: where do
elephant trunks come from?
These trunks—dark, wild extensions
of gas, dust, and particles
streeetch out from the stars
that birthed the Eagle.

Assume suns are mothers,
nebulae, children, and
the answer is clear enough.
Elephant trunks are chocolate
chip cookies, birthday cards,
clean laundry and other mothers’
tendrils, reaching out in love.

Copyright © 2006, Greg Beatty

Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Greg Beatty is recently married. He and his wife live in Bellingham Washington. Greg has a BA from University of Washington and a PhD from the University of Iowa, both in English, and attended Clarion West 2000. Greg's work has appeared in 3SF, Absolute Magnitude, Abyss & Apex, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Asimov's, Fortean Bureau, HP Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror, the Internet Review of Science Fiction, Ideomancer, Oceans of the Mind, Paradox, SCI FICTION, Shadowed Realms, Strange Horizons, Star*Line, and The New York Review of Science Fiction, among other venues. Greg won the Rhysling Award in 2005 (short poem category).