Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Requiem For A Cassowary

Here is the man, your hero, shot
into space by sign of what man can do;
what ass can question, what ass has got
more than an astronaut's glory? You?

Halo'd on podium with his lessers, the crew,
he's God's own bratty favorite.
Shine and stardust? He's made of it.

The Moon and Mars fall back a pace
in the face of science's full command,
to probe, to pierce, and then retrace
back home to our grand blue ampersand.

Yes, here is the hero, the amplified man
in parade, in decline, in decaying orbit,
ceasing the circle before he could form it.
_______

for Margaret's Play it Again, Toads # 14. Bursting with hubris, I did my own!

 
 

16 comments:

  1. A round of applause from me! What amazingly astute social commentary, wrapped in perfect form.

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  2. An interesting rhythm to this Shay--very but not too regular, as are the different length lines and stanzas repeating--there's a sense of formal knowledge, or civilization itself, breaking down to even the sounds here. Some great snark, as always, as well. I especially like the penultimate stanza.

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  3. "the hero, the amplified man"..one great truth...

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  4. your balance is supurbe!
    And constructed of the BEST resonant words and phrases. You are SO smart and talented. How great to say that and not feel like a bullshitter. You REALLY are the whole Poet Package! I wanna live in a world where you are published in the New Yorker and win awards and grant and stuff..... this friggin world!



    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    <3

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  5. I'm just in awe of the perfect line breaks. Damn, girl!

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  6. I just wonder what the hero's mad of to make him amplified, but the single risk that he might never return. Somehow it's startingly stupid to put yourself at the mercy of a tin-box, and just maybe stupidity is the hallmark of a hero.

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  7. Bitingly good, from the title (which I had to look up) to the final line. And I really like the earth as ampersand.

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  8. but.. but.. i LIKE astronauts. i always wanted to BE an astronaut. what'd they ever do to you?

    you're just jealous! hmmmmph!

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  9. Not sure about astronauts but I do love Jean-Luc (Picard).

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  10. I wonder what drinks with you and Dorothy Parker would be like? Likely, I'd leave skinned and gutted, deservedly so... but damn, that would be something. ~

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  11. I think that those astronauts have a lot of guts to be out there doing what they do because it isn't easy. I mean imagine trying to write while floating around in space.. I know that I wouldn't be able to. So imagine what their job must be like with things that are more complicated.

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  12. Man and science, both capable of much, both severely flawed and limited. This is way cool. I don't know how you do it. You make rhyme flow like free verse and not seem stilted.

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  13. The rhyming is great; the story begs for Homeric treatment like the Odyssey. I cackled at our blue ampersand and the amplified man, but then I am one of the axxes.

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  14. I'm always in awe of your poetry, Shay. (Wish I had better poetry commenting skills.) :)

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  15. I'm so ignorant when it comes to science and astronauts (I did like Apollo 13… :) Obviously man can put people like these on pedestals - but they aren't Gods, after all they do have human failings. Kerry mentioned this was great "social commentary" but now I'm wondering has something happened lately that I have missed in the news? (Sorry I'm a bit of a dull head)

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Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?