Callisto - a poem

This poem was written after looking at Jupiter and her inner moons through the telescope my wife gave me for my 40th birthday.
   As I looked at the moons I found myself thinking of all the friends I had lost, in particular one very close friend Sandie Craigie...
   You can hear me perform the poem on PNN as part of a longer discussion about art, culture and politics. I perform Callisto 16.30 minutes into the show: https://newmercurymedia.com/august-authors.html

callisto

imagine Callisto, thi sureness ae her form,
torn by thi velocity ae her dive
oan n oan inty absolute nuhhiness;
thi infinite freezing blankness ae thi Cosmos.

imagine thi thrill, thi joy, thi terror
ae her faw inty loss n discovery,
terrified yit kennin when extremis is met
n vanquished she needs ainly turn
n return tae thi heavens
watchin oour her,

thi math n thi melody n thi gravity
o Jupiter, Europa, Io, Ganymede;
thur bleezing iced spheres,
thur crackling, boomin, hissin atmospheres,
geein guidance, comfort, freedom
thru ilka tock n tick o eternity.

yit, imagine this:

Callisto et thi furthest streech
ae her courage n strength, her form bare seccins fae
being wrencht apairt by forces ayont her,
turns – triumphant! – tae her heavens yince mair
n sees ainly vast weesht blackness.

this yince happened tae me. in a blink
aw ma heavens, thur unco glitter n thur unco love,
thur kisses n bleary, beery nicotine wurds,
wur ripped forever fae mi.
yit thi cruel air kept moving thru ma lungs,
thi grun refused tae swally mi.


(For more of my poetry check out abstraction,
where I am slowly adding twenty five years of poetry)

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