A short poem by Giovanni Malito, a Candian-Irish poet living in Cork, Ireland, describes a shooting star with few lines. The short poem is six lines long, all lowercase letters, with only one punctuation mark -- a dash. Similar to a haiku, the untitled poem celebrates the shooting star like a haiku celebrates a small stone or tree. The poem also has a tense rhythm, with a 4-3-4 2-6-6 syllabic structure. The poem starts, "A shooting star/ streak the sky/ making it real." This short, but apt description helps the reader trust the poet, that he has a keen, observant and gentle eye. The second and last stanza, "clear night/in the space of smile/the meteor is gone" gives the reader the sensation of having witnessed the shooting star but the star disappearing the second it is seen, like a brief, genuine smile.
a shooting star
streaks the sky
making it real
clear night -
in the space of a smile
the meteor is gone
-Giovanni Malito (1957-2003)
Jack London was mainly a short story writer and novelist, but he also wrote poems. A rare poem, "The Sea Sprite and the Shooting Star" -- originally published in manuscript form in 1899 -- tells an anthropomorphic story of the origin of shooting stars. The poem is lyrical, narrative and rhyming. The poem begins "A little sea sprite/ on the sea one night/ cried "Now is the time for me,"/ And he looked above/ And he looked for his love;/ For he was in love, you see." The lines are sweet and whimsical, and move the reader to learn more about the sprite's love, which is a star in the sky. The poem continues to tell how the sea sprite climbs up into the sky to reach the star, but only gets to the moon. He misses his home in the sea and wants to die. The star above then comes gallantly down to rescue him and return them to the sea. "Not a bit too soon/ She came to the moon/ Where she grasped her lover's hand/ And they sang with glee/ As they splashed in the sea/ Right into the sea sprite's land."
Andy Travis wrote the poem "Shooting Star" in 2002 about discovering and cherishing the love of his life. The poem describes that his wishing upon a star created the love between him and his girlfriend. "I once wished upon a star/ which has taken me this far./ The wish, more than a dream, yet not a fantasy,/ would somehow become reality." The speaker in the poem worries about the wish on a shooting star not coming true, that he will not find true love with this girl. However, he feels he made the wish the right way. "I now have my Love with warm embrace. Because I once wished upon a star/ which has now taken us this far."
"Our Shooting Star", written by Kim McFall, is a narrative poem about a mother and father's loss of an unborn child. The mother likens the baby's brief life to that of a shooting star: beautiful and miraculous but fleeting. The poet writes "When did our love for you begin?/ At the moment we knew you existed./ Although your life was very short/ You are forever a lasting memory in our hearts." Later in the poem, the mother adores the baby as a metaphorical star: "You're a bright beam of light/ that just passed by us much too quickly./ Our little shooting star... we will always love you/ And we'll see you in heaven someday." The poem is tragic, but celebratory in the poem's loving tone and the compassion the mother has for the passing of her child and her hope to see her in heaven.