TERRANAUT

I.

The fathers 

stumble as if the floors shifted

their collective gait 

overrides the Rashomon effect 

revealing there is no succession

no torch to be passed on

only the town water cupped in their hands 

II.

perhaps there is more than this hardscrabble

this permeating murk 

as if an entire frontier were simply

an aberration

equidistant between dry and arid places

stupor and terror

the leaders determine they will send their own beyond

perhaps to tread afresh 

and lay a past to rest 

III.

we leave in the night 

and the haphazardness supplants 

the usual accounting of provisions

what you must do, do quickly

because this is not a procession

this is the appointed time

you bequeathed us 

tools that produce sweat,  

crooked bones

a boiled skunk creature 

bought with a frog man’s money 

rote and standardised  

IV.

The following are the contents of the bag: 

a lifetime of self-containment

a plastic sky of clouded discernment

food that spoils

raiment that fades

redefinitions of terms i.e. gatherings, slumlord 

artist’s impression of the fountain of youth  

V.

since the dampness overcame our blankets

we have learned to talk without words 

do things follow their natural course

are our lungs lined with spores 

each one is alone 

striving to remember 

how the shaping figures looked 

their words deeper than sound 

And none shares the components missing 

a cloud of flies by day

a pillar of mosquitoes by night 

VI.

we sang songs of mildew

and broke our backs scrounging

then set our rations alight

may the second-hand smoke

the strange flame

keep you

wherever you are 

VII.

Another sun sets 

with supposedly none to attribute it

Yet above

Impossibly near

is One

sufficient to hold every living thing 

that forefather after forefather 

neglects to welcome in

VIII.

the forests will remain

but only in our minds

fixated on our inheritance

with every single root 

awaiting in the Dead Sea 

IX.

we (supposedly) return home

where nothing is as promised 

so postpone the parade 

give berth for the greyness, the missing time

discoveries require words, preservation 

expeditions cannot be eaten 

Are we now the new hunters

of our dreams and visions

Leave the future alone in our present