Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Madness

Beautiful One,
committing rabid bloody murder
out on the wind-howled dust flats
of this dismal place, come back.

I have repaired the roof of the Environment,
and gotten some of the circuits to work again.
The hours here are intolerably empty without you,
like space, indifferent and suffocating.

At the Program, when we still had futures
fragile as the ecosystems on rocks that circle dying stars,
you were the only Scottish-Asian woman there,
or maybe anywhere.

I should have known then
that I had no chance of discovering anything distant,
when the only launch I cared about
was of my fingers through the black tracklessness of your hair.

Each heart is a rider contained
within a human ship of beauty and bone.
How fragile, how vulnerable we are
to a touch we have longed to know without knowing it.

How defenseless we are when the right face appears, 
making us feel everything,
or the virus which can disguise itself and enter
without being felt at all.

Doubt, fear, terror, carnage--
these are the commanders we answer to now.
Madness sprung from alien chemistry--
destroying us golden gods of science as if we were cardboard.

Cruelest of all, each infected madman here believes themselves sane;
it is the others who have clearly become maniacs.
Honey, if you have disemboweled Anderson from C Deck,
you had to do it. It was self-defense.

At the Program, our lives and our passion had possibilities,
lined up, sparkling and precious, like gem stones in a row on proud display.
My collection was always only
your warm skin, your wicked smile, and the seeking of them both, eternally.

I hate to think that we have shared our last moment
of strictly illegal carnal sweetness.
What I mean is, if I can never kiss you again,
then freezing under a too-distant sun is no different to me than living on.

Eckhart, from supply, looked so crestfallen when he saw what I had to do,
yesterday when we met in Pod B.  
I didn't know that it would be so gory, so awful,
or that he would just stand there, waiting for the blow, his mind already gone.

The rest of the crew is either dead or reduced to
quasi-human, semi-ruined caricatures, carrying flamethrowers and bibles,
ever-present and ever set on the complete destruction
of all that is still good, and gentle, and ennobling.

Listen to me ramble, I sound mad myself, don't I sweetheart?
I'm not though. We are the last two, the Anna and Eve of the end of the world,
and I cannot bear it here without you.
Come back. I'll leave the airlock unsecured,

to let you in, and on the monitor I will see your face,
like a picture of home, or of our days at the Program,
when madness was a delicious thing, the high we wanted again and again,
and if there were consequences, well My Heart, what a way to go.
______

For Get Listed with Kenia! I used the entire list, and kept the sci-fi theme of her book from which the list was taken.

Image from the movie Another Earth.

26 comments:

  1. Throws down pen.. leaves desk.. looks for a new hobby.. decides to take up knitting...

    ... sneaks back... steals these lines... runs...

    What I mean is, if i can never kiss you again,
    then freezing under a too-distant sun is no different to me than living on.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PS. They should be after you for movie rights!

      Flawless. Brilliant.

      Delete
    2. ahahahahha I know the feeling. I am no poet, and whenever I stop by I'm reminded of this.

      Shay, I was going to say this line, at the very beginning, was my favorite 'The hours here are intolerably empty without you,
      like space, indifferent and suffocating.'
      , but as I kept reading on, there were so many other beautiful lines making this beautiful poem, it would be so unfair to them if I picked a favorite one.

      Thanks for writing to the prompt, I'm really glad you did it so wonderfully, using all the words and sticking to the sci-fi theme.

      Thank you.

      Kisses. <3

      Delete
  2. i loved these lines: How fragile, how vulnerable we are
    to a touch we have longed to know without knowing it.

    How defenseless we are when the right face appears,
    making us feel everything,

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha ... Love is a virus a madness. . . . rabid murder ... I have it . . . I know it will be gory but come through that unlocked door:
    "What I mean is, if i can never kiss you again,
    then freezing under a too-distant sun is no different to me than living on."
    (What a chemical weapon way to reduce the glue of the world. I love scifi and this poem is perfect.)

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  4. Absolutely stunningly gorgeous--in cinemascope and technicolor of the heart, with a fog of dystopian pollution shattered by lines like "when the only launch I cared about
    was of my fingers through the black tracklessness of your hair..." NOW maybe you understand why I don't read yours before posting(channels Kerry's comment.) The progression of madness is taken both personally and universally (flamethrowers and bibles)as character after character falls, as the emptiness of space is filled with insane but sweet, delicious fantasy, and those final lines make the world seem well lost.

    BTW, do you think a space helmet would do more for me than this cheap wig?

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  5. Love yours! I love the parallel universe you painted!

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  6. You aced the sci-fi aspect. But what struck me most is this stanza - the cry of the human condition when it comes to love and longing:
    Each heart is a rider contained
    within a human ship of beauty and bone.
    How fragile, how vulnerable we are
    to a touch we have longed to know without knowing it.

    Just brilliant.

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  7. Funny you should mention a Scottish/Asian woman..
    I visited a 'Spa' once.
    The Masseuse was of Asian and Scot descent
    Her name was Lotus Blossom MacGlashen
    She treated me to a very happy Mac-Ending
    Loved your story!

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  8. The underlying passion that informs your poetry always make me feel like a cardboard version of a human.

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  9. Wow...amazing! I loved the effortless flow to this piece.

    "each infected madman here believes themselves sane"

    You're preaching to the choir, sister! Heh...

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  10. This is so seamless and engrossing, I totally forgot there was a word list you were writing to ~~ a big huge wow from this woman!

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  11. "How defenseless we are when the right face appears,
    making us feel everything,
    or the virus which can disguise itself and enter
    without being felt at all.

    Love those lines...the whole piece caught me in its spell. Goodness I could see a book come from this. Beautiful!!

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  12. oh this is a good one one to be read a few times to really take it all in

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  13. You are an amazing writer. To put together this fiction syfy story into poetry. It was complete from beginning to end. You made me see the desperation, the love, the madness and the emptiness of space. WOW. I wonder if you could write a short novella, but all in poetry...have you already done this? It wouldn't surprise.

    While I loved every word, this stanza made me sigh:

    "Each heart is a rider contained
    within a human ship of beauty and bone.
    How fragile, how vulnerable we are
    to a touch we have longed to know without knowing it.'

    Oh, that's lovely, Shay:~)

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  14. “Cruelest of all, each infected madman here believes themselves sane;
    it is the others who have clearly become maniacs”

    What a great observation and so unfailingly universal.

    Swirling in a sea of madness, Anna happily dives into the vortex. The virus is intoxicating.

    “I should have known then
    that I had no chance of discovering anything distant,
    when the only launch I cared about
    was of my fingers through the black tracklessness of your hair”

    Know body can write about love on the verge of extinction like you can!

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  15. I have the feeling of very bright, luminous sky, moon, stars...it's hard to look at ...but arrival of soulmate, almost like your half - makes you together the One, Whole ~ my perception :)

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  16. I believe you could repair the world's damaged rooF!



    ALOHA from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral
    =^..^= <3

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  17. Anna & Eve. (that made me smile)

    "or the virus which can disguise itself and enter
    without being felt at all." Oh, so chilling. I fear her Anna isn't coming back - such a desolate piece.

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  18. As usual (because she and I are twins who haven't met yet) Sherry picked the part I liked best: "longed to know without knowing it" is absolutely right on.
    Great sci-fi, Shay.
    And I love "Scottish-Asian"...sounds like some people in my family, not at all sci-fi.
    I could go on and on, but I won't.
    Luv, K

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  19. don't take this the wrong way, but this could totally be a manga comic, a space-opera ~

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  20. Shay--Via poetry, you revived the wistfulness of some of Asimov's novels...As always, brilliant.

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  21. ***Each heart is a rider contained
    within a human ship of beauty and bone.
    How fragile, how vulnerable we are
    to a touch we have longed to know without knowing it.**

    I F*cking Love you. x

    ReplyDelete

Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?