Women You Should Know: Poem about Female astronomer written by WriteGirl mentee
/An Ode To Astronomer Nancy Roman By 16-Year-Old WriteGirl Marina Orozco
Published by WYSK on March 15, 2016
Photo Credit: Women@Nasa
In celebration of this year’s Women’s History Month theme, “Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in Public Service and Government,” 16-year-old WriteGirl mentee, Marina Orozco pays homage to astronomer Nancy Roman with her poem The Stained Glass Ceiling.
The Stained Glass Ceiling
by Marina Orozco, WriteGirl Mentee, age 16
It shatters the celestial ceiling, boring through the glass.
Her creation, her gift to the world
that puts the universe in the palm of our hands
and clarifies the atmosphere…The Hubble.
Mother of Hubble, an affectionate name
for the astronomer who transformed blurs in the sky
into black holes, into galaxies, into planets and stars
while society tried to tether her dreams to Earth.
“This is a job for men, little woman, quit this path,”
she was told by her colleagues, by her teachers, by her friends
But she pushed their words aside and forged her destiny
to reach for the stars.
For even in the days of Nancy Roman’s youth
She would spend all her nights gazing at
the atmosphere from her backyard
through a cloudy stained glass ceiling
she finally cracked open.
