Jovian muertos 
churn out of the depths, stare 
from the edge of night, 

catching only the chance 
glances of passing moons, 

that never offer 
smiles or solace, as if 
they do not care, 

as if they do not see 
the struggle of faces, 

the hollow of eyes. 

—After an image processed by Vladimir Tarasov using raw image data captured by JunoCam, on NASA’s Juno Mission

Slightly cropped version of untitled image of clouds above Jupiter (October 2023). Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing by Vladimir Tarasov © CC BY [Creative Commons license].

Publisher’s Note:

For details about the image, and to view a much larger version, see the article “Just in Time for Halloween, NASA’s Juno Mission Spots Eerie ‘Face’ on Jupiter” at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (25 October 2023):
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/just-in-time-for-halloween-nasas-juno-mission-spots-eerie-face-on-jupiter/

Link was retrieved on 24 December 2023.

Gary S. Rosin

is a Contributing Editor of MacQueen’s Quinterly. His poetry and haiga have appeared, or are forthcoming, in various literary reviews and anthologies, including Chaos Dive Reunion (Mutabilis Press, 2023); contemporary haibun (Volume 17, Red Moon Press, 2022); Concho River Review, Sulphur River, Texas Poetry Calendar; The Ekphrastic Review; and Visions International.

Two of his ekphrastic poems appear in Silent Waters, photographs by George Digalakis (Athens, 2017). He is the author of two chapbooks, Standing Inside the Web (Bear House Publishing, 1990) and Fire and Shadows (Legal Studies Forum, 2008). His poems “Black Dogs” and “Viewing the Dead” were nominated for Pushcart Prizes.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Out of the Haze, collaborative haiga with photograph by George Digalakis and poem by Gary S. Rosin in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 8, June 2021); nominated for, and selected for publication in, Contemporary Haibun 17 (Red Moon Press, 2022)

⚡ Featured Poet: Gary S. Rosin in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 7, March 2021)

⚡ Crossing Kansas in The Wild Word (7 February 2020); includes audio of Rosin reading his poem

⚡ Two Readings: “Apparition” and “Black Dogs” by Gary S. Rosin for Texas Poetry Calendar 2015 at the Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas (20 September 2014).

See also Black Dogs here in MacQ (Issue 12, March 2022), which was nominated in October 2022 by MacQ for the 48th annual Pushcart Prize (2024 edition).