Ark II
Captain’s Log, Earth-date December 25, 2121:
It’s time
The jigsaw puzzle sky
Is backlit with the dawn
Of a new age; the fowl
Have already flown South
And all the beasts of the field
Have scattered; over the ridge
The ocean grows black
~~~
Prepare for launch
Electromagnetic storms
Approaching, atmospheric
Ablation, imminent
Cargo is secure, Captain
Winds southwesterly at three zero knots
Temperature forty degrees Fahrenheit
Temporal rift materializing at twelve-o-clock
Main engine start on my mark:
…three, two, one…
Engage rotating fields
<emergency alarms activate>
The hull’s creaking, Sir
Approaching stress limits
Throttling
Good
Monitor telemetry
Maintain trajectory
Accelerate to zero point four light-speed
Stabilizing
Magnetic coupling complete
Going superluminal
~~~
Target galaxy on sensors, Sir
Descending through Virgo cluster
Engaging dark matter decelerators
Well done
Planet on screen
Calculate orbital insertion
Prepare to land
~~~
Release the animals
Plant the flowers and herbs
And these two trees, the evergreens
In the middle of the garden
______________________________________________________________________________
John C. Mannone has poems in Windhover, North Dakota Quarterly, Poetry South, Baltimore Review, and others. He was awarded a Jean Ritchie Fellowship (2017) in Appalachian literature and served as the celebrity judge for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (2018). His forthcoming collections are Flux Lines: The Intersection of Science, Love, and Poetry (Linnet’s Wings Press, 2021) and Sacred Flute (Iris Press, 2022). A retired physics professor, John lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.
He is poetry editor of Abyss & Apex who contributes a seasonal poem every January.
Backstory: This poem originated from an Ekphrastic workshop and a photograph of the setting sun backlighting some would-be storm clouds. There was something inviting about the luminosity while still portraying an ominous mood. Weatherscapes are often excellent mood-instillers or setting-suggesters. The “dark” clouds coupled with a feeling of doom and pending disaster reminded me of the Biblical flood and the ark, which played into this futuristic poem with a spaceship providing salvation. But the poem evolved beyond that and suggests a different mythology. Ark II is set up as a dramatic dialogue adapted for a poem.
Image credit: Rocket launch (wallpaperflare.com)
