Forgotten Astronaut
Wondering what's happening at home ...
The empty arc of the schoolyard driveway
a cold and uninviting dark side
of the man-in-the-moon
mirrored with oily rainbows
between bright yellow lines
Smells like a bus stop.
Only --
All the busses left,
sputtering out fumes and laughter
Now the busses lumber back to their numbered spaces,
wait for tomorrow's rite of passage.
Today --
No neatly numbered car maneuvers through the moonscape,
the imaginary astronaut marooned in craters (gullies)
where he plays and tries to forget
how long ago was time to go
Feet fidget to and fro,
Books shift back and forth,
then the book bag is an air tank
and the gravel is space-grenades
attacking the monkey-bar monster
CHING -- CHANG
like gears that have reversed
on the afternoon routine,
like broken cogs in the clockwork of time
that refuses to pass
before the realization comes
the decision is made
and the journey begins
Walking home from school -- forgotten
Feet on an imaginary staircase that goes
up and down forward and back home
The voyager's landing module,
now a fur trapper's sled,
huskies bark through the gullies
Injuns on every side,
the pioneer goes onward
Today --
Each tin can is a pro-bowl pigskin
Each fallen twig is a relay-race baton
Each passing car conceals a communist agent
And each washed out gully is fertile again
Walking home from school -- forgotten
forgetting
1995