David Kelly: ‘Curiosity lands on Mars’, ‘Mars’ and ‘Precision’

Curiosity lands on Mars

It lands on its feet
like a tumbled cat
and gathers itself together.

Eyes blink awake:
nose, whiskers, ears
throb with detective intent.

It lets out a miaow of unease,
a bit scared like an old cat
lost in a new backyard.

It waits for a known voice
to provide guidance
then crawls forward gingerly
over the orange-brown
malignant desolation
in search of plants or mice
or the fluffy towel
of its sleeping box.

David Kelly

Mars

Our once and future home
our hope of paradise
our orange dust of destiny
but a bleak one for now
harsh as the Hamersley
but without the scrawny plants.

We could improve it though,
curate an atmosphere
that we can breathe,
green it all over
with grass and shrubs and trees,
make clouds and rain,
rivers and lakes
put up fair buildings
to live and work in
just like we did
on our other planet,
the old blue and white one.

We’ll make a place
to cradle novelty,
the love affair of starting over,
the vigour of fresh fields,

a place to sit at sunset
watch our two little moons
play tag across the sky
and pamper fond memories
of life on Earth.

David Kelly

Precision

It would seem the Moon
has never lost its sense of timing.

Every 28 days or so
it spins around us,
apogee and perigee;
and every 28 days or so
on its own axis:
a slow waltzy dance
partnering us and itself.

And the or so
is harmonious—
precise beyond belief—
which is why of course
the Moon’s in a rut and
stays where it is and
we only ever see one side and
the tides are regular.

You’d think the occasional
head butt from
a larger than average meteor
would throw it off its game
like dancers accidentally
bumping into each other;
a stutter in the dance
a cough in the carby
before off we go again …

I also wonder if
as we heavy it up
leaving our used spacecraft
and balloon-wheeled gizmos
in assorted craters and mares
it’ll start to slow down:

say 28 days
with a different or so

and as its rut track shrinks or expands
at the very least
our tides would change …

David Kelly