As a SF reader, I am with you in this poem, Bill. First couplet works for me. You also catch a bit of the male prerogative in the whole ting, but also in its loss (so much science & tech from that is still affecting us, but the urge to each further out got lost (which SF was so into).
So a sonnet as summation: it works.
Doug
> On Jul 30, 2019, at 4:33 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Reaching the moon seemed inevitable.
>
> Like growing up. Never been there before
>
> but no reason to think it a fable.
>
> So how did ‘Never cease’ become ‘Shut the door’?
>
>
> Grounded on the plateau of adulthood,
>
> where did it go, that impulse for take-offs?
>
> You’d think we’d reach for the stars while we could
>
> but our systems shut down like stifled coughs.
>
>
> We sputter into being, look around,
>
> experiment, accept, reject and surge.
>
> Then lose that looseness; once gone, never found
>
> The flagpole lists - light and dark will not merge.
>
>
> Armstrong’s dry footprint in moondust still lies
>
> Who the hell knows just what it signifies.
>
>
>
> Alternative closing couplet:
>
>
> That’s one small step, announced Armstrong back then.
>
> Mr Withers in class: Now back to page ten.
>
>
> bw
>
> ########################################################################
>
> To unsubscribe from the POETRYETC list, click the following link:
> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=POETRYETC&A=1
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
Listen. If (UofAPress):
Shakespeare
Drag yr mouldy old bones
Up these stairs & tell me
What you died of,
I think
I’ve got it
Too.
Sharon Thesen
########################################################################
To unsubscribe from the POETRYETC list, click the following link:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=POETRYETC&A=1
|