I am always overwhelmed by the thought of where we actually are. Smack dab in the backwaters of an unfathomable universe! I just know there's a message in it all. That message? 'Hey Mr. big stuff- you ain't so big'
Skrell
All aboard for Planet Skrell Time restraints are broke and fell None below are left to tell Planet Earth is now called hell
Sixteen hours to separation Leave behind all thought of nation Statehood must be left behind No more artificial lines
Now the neutron engines quicken Pass the bags to those who sicken Fifteen hours fifty-nine Flash of light and neutron prime
Out the porthole- look at that! See time bended at the back Arching like an angry cat Cross the cosmos out we spat
Long the way twixt hell and home All report to central dome Find your place and take a seat Movie night on board the fleet
Focus on the underdome Full retraction all gears chrome See-through dome of mylar glass Safest way to watch stars pass
Blue light signals trip halfway Flight attendants have their say Pointing out the blinking light A star surrenders to the night
And we press on 'cross open space Wagon train of a dying race Left behind our man-made hell Who knows what we’ll find on Skrell
In the Cosmos of my mind, red Quasars burn brightly My wispy spiral arms embracing them nightly From here in my bedroom inside my head dreaming I watch spiral galaxies pinwheel and streaming
I take leave of body no longer in hiding My soul on a carpet out barefoot and riding Close ring encounters of the carousel kind Treasures abound in the cosmos of my mind
Icy rocks hurtling end over end Heliopause causing light waves to bend Jovian planets lined up in their place Solving the puzzles of nature and space
Yellow sun rises, the birds start to sing I’m back in my body, alarm clock gives ring Walking in beauty where others are blind Sweet berry sanctuary, in the Cosmos of my Mind
He drew it at school on a desk in Missouri The science was based on what’s called a venturi A straw that could get you to Alpha Centauri That, or turned into tomato paste puree
A boy with his childhood out on the range Grew up to purchase all Points of Lagrange Using them for their provided stability Building his Crazy Straw worm-hole utility
Pointing it at constellation Centaurus They called him crazy, an unending chorus Spent all his money to plan the logistics Up every night breaking down the statistics
Finally the law came to put him away Even his friends didn’t know what to say But no one could find him, no cop judge or jury He’s living the high-life on Alpha Centauri
Floating on the shadow of a cosmic burst Keeper of the dream we call the universe Beguiler of the wanton who she renders meek Enchantress of the heavens playing hide and seek
Falling into slumber opens her mind Bringing close encounters of the wondrous kind Talks in her sleep resulting in rainbows No other goddess able to sustain those
When she has a nightmare it can be frightening Lessers beware errant forks of lightning When she dreams passion, smooth and creamy Making even frozen crystals steamy
Those who seek audience, god or mortal First must navigate the goddess portal When you’ve arrived, you’ll know you’re there Stardust and nebulae, long wavy hair
Tall, long-legged, statuesque, hot sauce-acle Stop me if any of this seems implausible Red head, vermilion, one kiss worth a million Wait for her outside the Dragon’s Pavilion
This is the story as to me was told She flung the stars into space made of gold Goddess we know you and love you it’s true Our Sleeping Dreamer, oh please say ‘I do’!
*Reviewed by Hari Prasad S, creative writer @ Hubpages:
What an amazing poetry, on dreams. Like a lullaby it creates wonder and awe. An imagination powered by wonderful words it mesmerizes us with its imagery, just as a dream does.It seems to me that this poems is about a lovely girl sleeping and dreaming wonderful dreams and the lover is imagining what it could be.A dream feels a bit realistic, but, to put it into words is not an easy task at all. It seems quite strange, silly, wonderful and scary sometimes what we see, yet it feels so realistic that it can make our bodies respond to them through dialated pupils, shaking hands, screaming and sometimes walking too in sleep. Such is the power of a dream.The poet here has done an extraordinary job in framing a lullaby poetry with immense imagery from space, stars, to god. (Sleep goddess / Nidra devi*). I am awestuck by the imagery it has created in our minds. Space travel, stars, galaxies, the infinite cosmos has always been enchanting since childhood to this stage of adulthood.It is really amazing how science is helping us in finding what our imaginations had long back seen. Looks like when we imagine we can find it too.So all the extraordinary things we dream are infact real, which science will prove exists in few decades in the future.The poem makes us believe in the probable truth of a dream and coax us to dream fantastic dreams. (Though it's not in our control :-) )I congratulate the poet and wish him many more poetic dreams that we too can enjoy. Reviewed by:- Hari Prasad S Dated:- 12-Sep-2020
A Place in Space
Luminous nebulae twist in the sky Like many before me, I stop and ask why Oh, Father of time and Mother of pearl Do galaxies choose which direction to twirl
Does jovian planet with icicle rings Write the original song that it sings Are each of the colorful rings that it carries Given away to the one that it marries
Heavenly body too young for selection Strawberry moon with a teenage complexion Vacuum of space for maintaining your purity How many eons until your maturity
How many Goddesses how Gods Are we alone and how great are the odds Are we just loose change in somebody’s purse These are the questions I ask of the universe
At the edge of space there is a star The aliens called it Talamar In its’ orbit seven moons Float in silence like balloons
Though each the seven do differ On only one does life occur A one that holds an atmosphere Supporting trees and birds and deer
From far and wide the travelers come To see this moon and alien sun Snapping holographic rays While locked in orbit several days
Some do after breaking free Reverse their holographs to see Continental interaction The oceans are a big attraction
Traveling families shoot to space Comes another to replace Keeping equilibrium Talamar continuum
Where the ancients once did dwell Talamar became a hell Not for evil but for heat Stars were never meant for feet
Simple atoms were ignited Got the solar ball excited Talamar exported winds Warmth provided, life begins
Do come see us by the by Hubble quadrant, western sky Quite a fascinating place Talamar, on the edge of space
Joseph John Racano
Footprint of the Gods
Tell-tale sign of a visit from the gods Somehow searching out our nest, defying all the odds Remnant of a giant race, suggestion of an echo Reverberating through the halls of time, some massive gecko
Found among a sea of stars the planet of our birth Galaxies of suns much like the one that warms the Earth And furthermore the question begs, what brought them here-to-fore They surely had much else to do on some galactic shore
Our scientists with thirsty minds took swabs of DNA And found genetic manuscript that had a lot to say Apparently these giant beings related to our reptiles Came to Earth expecting to find relatives in textiles
Had they read the book of our geology instead Maybe they’d have known that all the dinosaurs were dead Their kind wiped clean by some cosmic passerine Allowing shrew like mammals to discover gasoline
Judging by their feet these lizard gods were very large How did they react to find small hairy ones in charge Clear across the Universe was quite some distance to traverse But -finding on arrival no reptilian survival- made the fruitless journey so much worse
And so the perching giant stepped but once upon the planet Sank a claw-like lizard-bird foot deep into the granite With solar powered photon drive it spread its mighty wings Twisted ‘round and sprang away, the place not fit for kings
Joseph John Racano
The Orb
The Aliens arrived in their weird little orb The Earth was a planet deemed safe to absorb Council of Galaxies gave their approval Soon would begin wholesale oceans removal
Went down the checklist to make doubly sure The forests were burning the air was impure What once was a fabulous lotto of luck Now plundered by people who don’t give a fuck
Cheering began back on planet Gleise-Five Resources coming to keep them alive None of the people on this planet care Gleise-Five would finally teach them to share
‘Check’ said the overlord, ‘tractor beam ready!’ Then came loud humming ‘Engage and hold steady’ Ten cubic miles sucked airborne each minute Blue whales and marlin still visible in it
Richochet gunshots twanged off of the orb’s metal Snipers were dispatched by step on a pedal Loudspeakers blaring out pleas far below “Please reconsider, we’ll change if you go!”
But nothing the orb-lord could see looked convincing Nowhere on Earth could he gaze without wincing What obviously once was a beautiful place Had thus been afflicted by some vile race
Mountaintops chopped off to strip mine for coal How to accumulate wealth was the goal Bathing in dollars the rich would exult Troposphere clouded with smoke the result
Last of the lakes were now siphoned on high Up to the extraterrestrial sky Lord of the Orbs gave the signal for speed Leaving these men to their doom and their greed
Joseph John Racano photo by: Lori Newland
Space Traveler 7
Space Traveler 7 arrived at the portal Many equations from home What took him a second to Earth was immortal He would on return be alone
Such is the sacrifice made for pure science To see what before none had seen His life support suit held complete self-reliance He wouldn’t depend on a screen
Below on the right was a quasar Above was a nebulae cloud Alerts told how dangerous rays are He turned on the gamma ray shroud
Hanging with both legs akimbo Arms taking readings and such Past present future in limbo He wouldn’t dwell on it too much
Pellets of ice bouncing off him Like some form of space-driven rain Spun him ‘round early and often Then near-miss by a meteor train
He found himself sucked in a vortex Created from binary stars One of which spun like a timex The other looked something like Mars
He loaded the new information To a shiny device on his wrist Stepped back for a portal vacation Then checked for what might have been missed
He watched on his visor as pictures Of his family flashed past his eyes Then he sent back the science as scriptures Addended with final goodbyes
Joseph John Racano
Rescue Mission from Techton-two
On vacationary pleasure pause on Tecton-two The intercell went off, a voice said “How are you- I know you’re on vacationary one more day But a mission is available, what do you say?”
I poured a cup of java stumbling out of bed Barely heard a word of what the star-base said But money was tight and the payment was right I said “Let me pack my things and I’ll be there tonight.”
Turned out that a princess went to Garlon five To lend a hand at trying to keep a species alive But thirty months later there had been no words It shouldn’t take so long to save endangered birds
I fired up the nuke-a-tron and lifted off Levelled out the saucerpod and heard it cough Several seconds later I was deep in space Scrutinizing readouts while I shaved my face
‘Saucerpod Seven, Captain, do you read?” I nicked myself shaving and I started to bleed “Read you loud and clear, star-base, yes, I copy; Your red-shifted transmission sounds a little sloppy”
“No one knows you’re coming and you’re off the grid Gentle with the princess ‘cause she’s just a kid” “Roger that” I answered as I worm holed out “I’ll add to the intrigue and take the back-stars route”
Then there came the wake up call, the interstellar beeping Looked up at the gauge to see how long I’d been sleeping Stars flew by as I crossed a billion parsecs Passing by more planets than a season full of star treks
That’s when someone’s tractor beam commanded my attention Giving me a chance to use a very new invention I flipped a glowing toggle switch that shifted the polarity The Garlon Five insurgents felt my tech-advance disparity
I waved a hand across the scanner and focused on a blip The princess soon would be in line to beam aboard the ship I hit the toggle switch once more, the G force pinned me to the floor The blip showed where, I pressed a square and she arrived a mess of tangled hair
As saucerpod used brand new tech, she threw her arms around my neck I sat her down and strapped her in, the saucerpod began to spin I altered the stream of the tractor beam just as she began to scream I updated the intercell phone, “Slingshot done, she’s coming home!”
The princess and the birds were saved, though Garlon Five remained enslaved I marveled at this pretty girl, a princess out to save the world The party started just passed Pluto, I flipped the ship as though by judo And now I take my leave of you, as I deliver the princess to Techton-two
Joseph John Racano
Far Side of the Moon
What are they gonna find On the far side of the moon? No one's ever seen it but we're gonna see it soon
Maybe there's a different cheese Amelia Earhart's long-lost keys A green ensemble ragtime band Voyager seven's lost kickstand
Who are the people, who's in charge? Are they little green men or do they grow quite large? Do they sleep on beds or do they sleep on rocks? Do they store bottled water in a little locked box?
Why do the beings there stay in the dark? Do moon dogs bite or do they just bark? Don't change the channel 'cause we'll find out soon This is me, your lunar host from the far side of the Moon
Joseph John Racano
Elysian Fields
Welcome to Elysian Fields No more struggling with your meals What you need will be provided All are friends with none divided
Step inside the transport chamber Rest assured there is no danger Leave behind what doesn’t matter Clothing, fear, a world in tatter
Watch the alien up in front Show you how to stow your trunk Fear thee not the space machine Wipe all feet, we like it clean
By the window take your seat Be prepared for cosmic treat Fasten seat-belt, tables up Ask for mead we’ll fill your cup
Soon will come our swift departure Faster than a Roman archer Ears will pop so please chew gum It’s a long way to Elysium
‘How, why me’- you may to ask ‘Need I complete some fearsome task?’ But all your good work’s long been done Your passport to Elysium
Please lay back and clear your mind Let go those you’ve left behind Family, friends and favorite girl You’re off now to a brave new world
Out the window see the sparks Children play on Asteroid parks Peek in close, you’ll see their wings Elysium will provide such things!
One last roll, now pitch and yaw Forth and yon like a cosmic saw We go now where none bleeds or heals Bound for golden Elysian Fields
Now awake to the captains bell ‘We’re closer to heaven than we are from hell’ Where nothing can be bought or sold Just endless streaming fields of gold
Milky Way shrinks in the distance Press red button for assistance Watch the galaxy recede Robot woman brings more mead
‘Now hear this’ the captain says ‘Watch the screen to see high res’ our Andromeda neighbor to the south chuckling as it left his mouth
Everything was different now Hypodermic needle chow Spacesuits made of shiny cloth Drinks of gusto, like Ent broth
Passed the time from dream to dream Woke to cookies served with cream Looked outside and heard a scream Elysian Fields came on the screen!
‘Now hear this’ the captain concluded ‘No more Earth with land denuded’ Never felt so much at home Our spacecraft landed on a dome
Outside stood the cheering throngs Englishmen, rednecks and Hmongs The Universe, after all, was fair I stepped outside into clean fresh air
I spread my arms and to my surprise Two wings unfurled that were twice my size And there was Dorothy and she clicked her heels In the sunshine over Elysian Fields
Joseph John Racano
9/24/18
Jupiter One
Jupiter One You are cleared for your run Fill your tanks with plasma When you slingshot past the sun
Hold the line a minute Your family just arrived Your wife and kids will meet you If you stop at Argon Five
'Hello daddy!' said three kids In unison and glee 'I love you baby' said his wife, 'Don't forget about me!'
The rocket engines roared to life The plasma drive kicked in The power shook the stars themselves It caused a mighty din
With a giant 'whoosh!' a bright red trail Arced into the sky A quest for knowledge drove it all (or was that just a lie?)
Perhaps a thirst for resources Agreed we owed to Satan Or death by three celestial horses Like those who killed poor Phaeton
In any case We jumped for space Hatchling turtles seeking water At a break-neck pace
Far behind us, all that binds us Extra-terrestrial biological entities We're planet killers, please don't mind us
Jupiter One, phase one is done Prepare for a test of the new Rail Gun Come about hard with your light-speed laser Cut from the beam with the starboard phaser
'Roger that' came the distant reply 'We're a big bad ship and we won't be shy' Star Base answered, 'Very well- -looks like baby turtle's coming out of the shell!'
'Sir!, said the captain, 'a new report- Asteroid Ganz is out the window to port!' 'Then Prepare for a landing on the Asteroid Ganz A trillion tons of platinum ore in reach of your hands!
Sound General Quarters and alert the crew Have them all hold hands and sing a hymnal or two' They turned down the lights and got a big surprise: Asteroid Ganz abruptly opened up its eyes!
No one heard a sound But they could hear it in their heads 'We deem you as a threat and now Will pump your ship with meds'
Twenty-four years later The ship returned to base The memories were wiped And blank expressions on their face
On their rocket windshield was A yellow post-it note, that said: 'Next time you'll get back your ship With everybody dead'
Joseph John Racano 7/7/18
Deep Space One
Deep Space One, neutron star Wrong left turn at Ye' Old Inne bar Nine years of college, then post grad Less navigation skills than dear old dad
Woke at reveille, turned up the gravity Didn't use starquest and everybody's mad at me Can't turn around 'cause we've gone too far Should've made a right at Ye' old inne bar
Deep star tenderfoot, send me up a cup It's gonna be a long one and I've got to stay up Navigator set a course between these lines I'm pretty sure that this is where they set those mines
Someone do a Yucca search, type in 'burger' We've gone a billion parsecs and the rest is murder We're crawling with Kasteroids in very dense space Keep all lights blue and wear a night-sight face
Deep Space One, this is Neutron Star, Try to get a pointal fix on where we are Started off in hyper flow, went a bit too fast y'know Couldn't make the left around Ye' old inne bar
'Neutron Star, you're like a neutron bomb If you go a little faster we'll alert your mom Computer printing ways to keep your ship from harm See what you can do to keep the crew all calm
One, please hold a moment please stand by Auto pilot frightened and begun to cry Quartermaster culture-grown from new A.I. Reading off scenarios of how we die
Star this is One, it doesn't sound like fun Look off to your right and you should see a sun Larger than the rest with a ring of maroon Slingshot off of that and you will see a moon
Tell the crew the AI's only kidding 'em Swoop down low and scoop some irridium Fill in the cavity, break from moon gravity Get your people out before the rays start killing 'em
Deep Space One this is Neutron Star You're never gonna believe it when I tell you where we are We were end over end when we came around a bend And landed on our belly at Ye' Old Inne Bar!
Neutron Star this is Deep Space One You saved the crew from danger and your mission is done Please delete all data and hand in your gun The ship is decommissioned, set a course for the sun
Joseph John Racano
Force 5 Galaxy
It was early onset in September Every year we still remember Our lives were mostly caught up in fallacy Until we got hit with a Force 5 Galaxy
And what can a Force 5 Galaxy harm? Try getting hit with a spiral arm 100,000 light-years across A billion suns playing planetary toss
The call to evacuate came at 7:15 First women and children- men watched on a screen Meteor maids stayed keeping the order Our heliopause the defining border
None could stay, all had to go No exceptions for even a UFO Category 5 became a rallying cry Embassies closed, we recalled every spy
The galaxy spun on its axis wheel It happened so fast there was no time to feel It rotated freely through parsec and sky A lot like a pinwheel on the Fourth of July
'Deep space probes shorted Their missions aborted We ran out of water so More was imported'
Watching the action by the light of our star The news channel broadcast from my local bar The last seven life jets about to depart I caught the last one but I left Earth my heart
Oh how I'd miss the green frog in his billabong Bamboo pole fishing and meadow-side fill-a-bong Song of the whipperwill, smell of the sawdust mill Though I travel forever none other could ever fill
Finally the Galaxy bent to force four Skipped over Florida, broke down my door And then it was past, the danger behind us But early September will always remind us
Now when children sit in the holiday quiet No toys left ashelf and no shopper to buy it They ask us the questions that we still can't answer What caused the warming and storming and cancer?
Joseph John Racano
Cosmic Invitation
Outside my house at a quarter to three A riot of stars were waiting for me Each in its place far out in deep space I stood and imagined their warmth on my face
I felt like a child on the first day of school The smartest of us to a star is a fool They stamp on the cosmos their own private brand Fashion it all with the wave of a hand
We watch all our lives as they backdrop the night Forever unchanging and steady of light We of great smallness with lives of such brevity Sensing an ironic aura of levity
Pin-wheeling galaxies spinning around Gears of the universe making no sound Here for the wonder, here to entrance Inviting us in to partake in the dance
Joseph John Racano *The stars are a ransom note written in pearls Stand on your toes and the galaxy twirls!
Nightship
From Earth it seemed a distant fire streaking through the void Elevation nine or higher Perhaps an asteroid
Heads of state had stayed out late A politicians dance It probably was nothing but They couldn’t take a chance
They pressed the amber button and sounded the alarm Out in space the human race might soon be facing harm
Back in orbit Captain Corbett saw it on the screen Longer than a comets tail with lights of emerald green
He had no way of knowing ‘twas the Nightship drawing near and rather than a threat to them That ship had need to fear
A hundred thousand parsecs did separate the two Closing fast through stellar gas that ship came into view
The Nightship was a vessel from the other side of time A long range exploration ship investigating crime
Her skipper saw the planet Earth from two dimensions hence Considering her atmosphere A criminal offense
‘Helmsman, come about’, he said ‘That planet’s got the scurve!’ On Earth came shouts of mirth to see the streaking fire curve
The heads of state called up to space and asked what had been seen Captain Corbett just reported, ‘Massive ship in green’
Far away, the ship receded Off to where it might be needed Other times and other worlds and that’s our story, boys and girls!
Joseph John Racano
*above image: 'Nightship' by the author
Meet us at World’s End
Beg your pardon, human being We’re alarmed at what we’re seeing Indulge us our mundane concerns It’s troubling how your planet burns
The brightest lights we see from space are jungle fires all over the place Many stacks exhaling smoke Let us in on your private joke
Your troposphere is six miles high That’s the thing you call the sky You can’t just fill it up with fuel Time to take you back to school
Kids who’ve been left home alone You’ve trashed the planet to the bone Well we’ve got a surprise for you Your world belongs to others, too
And we won’t take it lying down The way you throw your trash around Your smoke, your soot, your radiation Planetary conflagration
Your leaders say we don’t exist But let them try explaining this We’ve bored a hole through miles of rock To give you pause and cause you shock
Consider us to be your neighbors But we’re not here to ask you favors You are hereby summoned to ‘World’s End’ To be determined foe or friend
Joseph John Racano
Asylum Earth
An entire race of people were out looking for asylum Representing everywhere, each kingdom, order, phylum And so it was they sent them here to Earth, and did they pile ‘em Not a one suspecting that the Earth was an asylum
Asylum Earth, Asylum Earth Are we insane, or is that mirth? Asylum Earth, a planet’s girth My place of birth, Asylum Earth
They landed ‘mongst the wild maise and modified genetically They spent their first few days like this, and acted so frenetically The streams around us all ran dry and so we regulated spreading water on the dust clear cuts exacerbated
Keep that dust down, save the stream The loggers were elated But what about the forest -turned-to-moonscape we created? http://www.sacbee.com/.../logging-companies-ordered-to... Soon they spread across the land, and everywhere the scars of man No one had a long term plan, and yet they built Glenn Canyon Dam Into subways people cram, sardines in an oblong can Out of water, out of land, soon the shit would hit the fan Asylum Earth, Asylum Earth Are we insane, or is that mirth? Asylum Earth, a planet’s girth My place of birth, Asylum Earth
Out in California, straight jackets were the norm No place left for tantric sex, it’s been replaced by porn Fruits and nuts and cigarette butts and GMO for corn A virtual setting, a great forgetting of the world where you were born
Asylum Earth, Asylum Earth Are we insane, or is that mirth? Asylum Earth, a planet’s girth My place of birth, Asylum Earth
The sun went ‘round a hundred times, the stragglers sought out cooler climes Returning birds sang Earths first words since oil cut the sea in thirds Survivors camped atop a summit, vista of man’s global plummet High above a craft arrived taking notes on who survived
Asylum Earth, Asylum Earth Are we insane, or is that mirth? Asylum Earth, a planet’s girth My place of birth, Asylum Earth
Ship was here and now is gone, the lands are dark, no lights are on We made it to the bottleneck, and very few, but what the heck Our stored up grain has now run out, we must depart and move about Looks like we will be the first- the first to leave Asylum Earth
Asylum Earth, Asylum Earth Are we insane, or is that mirth? Asylum Earth, a planet’s girth My place of birth, Asylum Earth
Joseph John Racano 7/5/14
Attention Attention
Your attention please, note the clear tube above your seat kindly draw it down to the transparent tray on your lap now spin it clockwise toward the galaxy shining outside if you have a window seat, sit back and have a nice ride-
our captain says we should be arriving on Planet X-ello shortly in about thirty thousand years Attention, attention, good people of Earth Your leaders are killing your planet of birth
They're calling it progress, increasing your girth And we'd like to help you, for what it is worth Please cast your focus up out past the skies There's nobody out there named jesus who dies
You're nothing but cattle, your lives a disguise Your space exploration, a threat in our eyes People of Earth, we don't care if you're yellow Black, brown or white, you are all the same fellow
And this time we haven't just come to say 'hello' We're taking a jetliner back to X-nello Leaders of Earth, please stop stealing the money People are starving and you think it's funny
You burn fossil fuel where it's totally sunny Reproduce more than an oversexed bunny We're taking these people from all walks of life Studying them, child, husband or wife
Perhaps there's an answer to your kind of strife But we'll never know 'till their under the knife Please don't you bother to track down your plane It's light years away, you won't find it again
Pay some attention to your acid rain The people of Milky Way think you're insane Just go on cutting your forests to sell Listening to those who say 'everything's swell'
It's unlikely you will be saved by the bell
Unless you stop turning your heaven to hell
Joseph John Racano
Written in the Wheatfields
Is anybody home or have we come too late From the Heliopause your planet still looks great We were passing through Andromeda and stopped on in It was just another parsec and a month of zen
An arm on the tiller and an arm on the helm I was free to rest the third, not be overwhelmed We were getting kinda worried when your radio waves Started shifting up the spectrum, situation: grave
Your atmosphere was pegging out on Co2 So we gravitated in to see what we could do Is anybody home or have we come too late From the Heliopause your planet still looks great
We passed the outer planets- and would be there soon Close enough to see the rubbish that you left on the moon It was almost like the Earth was running out of room We wondered if the oceans were as garbage strewn
It doubled our concern to watch the jungles burn Do you store them on the Ark once they fit in an urn We came a lot of light years on a quest to learn But the way your planet looks, we made a real wrong turn
Is anybody home or have I come too late From the Heliopause your planet still looks great We got below the clouds and it was crystal clear Not the air, but what your race allowed to happen here
To subdivide a planet like a slice of steer You never made the peace but you made real good beer Dresden, Nagasaki, New York City, Hiroshima Chernobyl, Valdez, then the Gulf, and Fukushima
We left you with the knowledge of the ruts we dug at Lima But you decided nuclear and passed it off as cleaner Is anybody home or have we come too late From the Heliopause your planet still looks great
We warned you not to bring your weapons into space But every 60 years there comes a 'master race' You push the native tribes out of their rightful place But out here you're a flea and now you're in my face
You sent a Titan III in 1985 We detected weapons and we cut that jive In 1986 the same thing happened again Then you sent one with a teacher, and we said 'No' my friend
Is anybody home or have we come too late From the Heliopause your planet still looks great We aren't gonna let you into outer space 'till you finally solve the problems of the human race
We want to send a message to your average peeps But your leaders won't allow it 'cause their goddam creeps They tell you that your crazy and we don't exist But it's written in the wheatfields and it looks like this...
Joseph John Racano
The Porpoise Galaxy Prologue, NGC 2936… Mere moments ago she was set on a course and suddenly thrown from her nebulae horse From somewhere below came a cosmic upwelling Space, time and gravity, bending and swelling Galaxy Porpoise In a far away darkness, too faint to see the Galaxy Porpoise swims wild and free Spreading her flukes made of cosmic debris On a quest to traverse all that ever will be
With fiery fins and kaleidoscope eyes Trailing behind her a cosmos of cries the most dazzling of spectacles ever to rise Provoking her would be extremely unwise
Hair like the stars of a mythical rain Falls upon shoulders of heavenly flame Cascading down from her gamma ray mane The Galaxy Porpoise can never be tame
As pulsar and quasar lead her out of sight She twists on a journey through violet light Deeper and deeper out into the night Remember the Galaxy Porpoises might
Galaxy Porpoise, epilogue…
Pity poor Ahab who found out too late Mankind is weak and Leviathan great The Universe flows and simply won’t wait Resistance can only lead one to Hell's gate
Joseph John Racano
The Classroom
The sky clouds parted with moist refrain Lightning crackled through torrential rain A caravan arrived in long procession Space-borne classroom was now in session
‘Welcome to pre-history, a retrospective look A planet ruined by industry, you won’t find in a book Long before their ancestors had climbed down from the trees We faced circumstances that were similar to these’
Down below the hover-cade an ocean churned with foam Smothering the monuments of what this race called home An ocean filled with gas and oil, so chemically polluted That even in its vastness it just could not be diluted
Back on our own system just before the ocean surged Scientific wisdom was embraced and we diverged Just in time we saw the signs, of nature and its’ worth Not so on this planet, I believe they called it Earth Joseph John Racano
It was late at night in the mess cafeteria I was staring out the portals at the big mysteria Eating freeze-dried turkey on day-old bread Visions of a camping trip danced in my head
A voice blared out in cold, robotic monotone The naming of a movie they’d be showing on the robaphone Star-crossed lovers, a comedy and more I hardly paid attention having seen it all before
I took a navy shower and I shaved a little fuzz Shook out my old towel and my ear began to buzz ‘This is not a drill’ a voice was leaking from my droid ‘Visitors from space arriving from across the void’
It took about a minute ‘till I dried and suited up Couldn’t waste the coffee so I guzzled down a cup Back out on the mess-caf I could see them clear as day Unfamiliar cruiser ships with lots more on the way
Far below the planet brightly lit but none the wiser All electric current for a single advertiser Here was an invasion or facsimile thereof And not a single nation was aware of up above
Engineering cut the power, all the lights were dimmed Sensors were recording spikes as radiation brimmed As of yet there were no orders, all our shields were down Then the largest craft of all began to spin around
Down at mess-caf we could hear conversing on the bridge I stocked up with food and kept on searching through the fridge Then the spinning mother craft emitted violet light Signaling the rest of their huge fleet, perhaps to fight
Our commander gave the order, ‘activate the shields!’ Switching all our lights to red increasing power yields Then they all just disappeared as fast as they had come Leaving in our ethernet a low magnetic hum
epilogue Our scientists spent twenty years on researching that hum The code was finally broken by a worker chewing gum *We had come in peace to share technology with you- You activated shields. You have more growing up to do*
Perhaps someday they will return Across the void with less concern The galaxies and red suns burn And mankind has so much to learn
Joseph John Racano
Rendezvous with the Dragon
If only one survives, it means there still be dragons Said the elven creature to a nervous Bilbo Baggins Rumor has it one last dragon may be passing soon I intend to prove it with a camera on the moon
If nothing’s on the screen, well then you’ll know that I have failed A waste of seven worm holes and the space trip it entailed But then again with proper zen we just may yet get lucky I also set a parallax in Lexington, Kentucky
Quiet on the set I heard a rumble in the atmosphere No time for regret, this poem is tumbling through the blog-o-sphere Tell me that’s no asteroid I know it’s not a comet Not a single rock in space has Dragon decals on it
It’s official- Falcon -9 has hit escape velocity Now will Elon go to Mars and rescue Curiosity Or will the Space X Dragon simply find another cause Rendezvous with Voyager beyond the heliopause
Pardon me a moment and allow me to explain In case you've never ridden on the Nudibranch Train Our Universe of wonders runs the gamut Earth to Mars But even ‘mongst the beautiful the Nudibranchs are stars
An unassuming creature, assuming you are blind Easy on the softest eyes, the colors blow your mind Nudibranch oh Nudibranch, call Creator let me thank Purple violet indigo with blue upon your flank
Sea Cucumber cousin, Michelangelo tattoo Rainbow times a dozen, there are none so bold as you Like the Blue ringed Octopus and Coral Snake give warning Those who pick you up get stung and could be gone by morning
Floating at the surface with your belly to the sky Eating poison jelly fish so toxic I could cry Why are those most beautiful so often deadly too Lovely deadly Nudibranch the one called dragon blue
Joseph John Racano
Welcome to Mars
Thank you for the terraforming job you did on Mars The workers all went back to Earth and bought humungous cars We like to think of Mars as our new home and new frontier Please stay with the group and just ignore the smell of beer
On the left you’ll notice a canal once held a stream We spilled it full of oil now we’re cleaning it with steam On the right you’ll see we’ve built a brand new line of domes The homeless back on Earth were brought to Mars and given homes
Once a week we make sure all their oxygen is filled If they venture out the atmosphere will get them killed Here on Mars we’ve conquered many problems faced on Earth There are no trees or birds and we use laughing gas for mirth
There are no machinations so we have no use for tools And here is where we’ll put the Mars Academy of Schools Where we can ask the question, what is terraforming worth- Why make Mars life-friendly and destroy it back on Earth?
Joseph John Racano
Revisitation
The flight to Earth takes only seconds Clear blue alpine water beckons We stow enough to slake our masses Breaking liquid into gasses
Every thousand years repeated This time found your world depleted When we leave we’ll scour space Try to find another place
But for now a job at hand Hover high above the land Frightening cowboys in the saddle Levitating chosen cattle
Laser beam precision cuts Procure genetics from their butts When the process is complete Drop them in the highest trees
Then it’s on to city lights Abductees and sleepless nights Soft examination towels Next day they remember owls
Then before we turn to go Launched as from an archers bow Message left in field of corn Earth is where our race was born
Joseph John Racano
A Question of Direction
Traveling a long lonely highway in space I asked a pedestrian, “what is this place?” After some moments he bested his fear And said it was ‘no place’ and ‘nothing lives here’
Oh dear my good man just you must be mistaken The planet called Earth tell me where’s it been taken? So bright and so blue with an emerald of greenery A topping of white puffy clouds cap the scenery
Oh my said the man with a look of confusion The one that was here suffered nuclear fusion They had a reactor the sun was its name But brought it to Earth to play nuclear games
Land sakes did I tell him I see you’re in haste But what did they do with the nuclear waste? Oh that said the stranger with quizzical looks It’s stored and it’s dangerous, still on the books
But please don’t be frightened it soaks in a pool And industry wisdom brought back fossil fuel Presto logs gasses and oil and coal Which of course led to black spots on the soul
Now if you’ll excuse me the hour grows late My lady awaits me for dinner and date A thousand one pardons I pray you’ll accept Down there is where old planet remnants are kept
Joseph John Racano
The Odd (but true) Story of when Space X met Alien Blueship
(garble*phhhhffffitt!- pop! Crack-scratch*)
"Captain we're getting a transmission."
"Very well, engage the translation dilectitrodes and put it on the monitors main screen."
"Aye Captain."
1gsjs864t2csjk winwencn (bzzzt) j bikwhjebecubveqcthen we can (frrritzz) have a conversation, over."
"We repeat, come in Earthlings, we are very interested in the red car you sent out yesterday, over."
"Alien Blueship, this is Captain Corbett of the Space X Heavy Rocket, reading you loud and clear. We hope you understand the vehicle does 0-60 in 1.9 Earthseconds, over." "Captain Corbet, this is Z-Rell, Supreme Commander of Alien Blueship, we are very concerned about the changing chemical makeup of your planet's atmosphere, over." "Yes Z-Rell we are pumping the ocean and atmosphere full of CO2, but these electric cars are a first big step toward righting our sinking ship. This was the only way we could overcome the censorship of the oil companies and get the word out to you." "Well done Captain, and our regards to Elon Musk, Blueship over and out!"
Alien Blueship
'Alien Blueship Please check out our new ship Ain't she somethin' purty Electric engine clean not dirty
Alien Spaceship Moving at a fast clip Our planet's the Titanic Note the sign: 'Don't Panic!'
Enter Elon's people Waking up the sheeple Things a little hectic Changing oil to electric
We believe that you know We have a closing window The President don't think so We had to do it solo'
Joseph John Racano
The Cosmic Cleaning Lady
She came to the planet seeing red She’d already washed the dishes and made the bed With all that through there was still much to do Those filthy solar panels full of dust, “ah-Choo!”
First came Rover, then came Spirit They called her again and she didn’t wanna hear it Thirty-four million miles of traveling through space And they still left red dust all over the place
Meanwhile back on Earth the papers were asking ‘Who’s been up on Mars multi-tasking?’ Those solar panels didn’t just clean themselves Does anybody think it was the little space-elves?
A cleaning event, and it’s happened four times! We always know it’s happening when Voyager chimes Whoever has been doing it, thank you very much It’s mighty kind of you to act so neighborly and such
Or the skeptics may be right and it’s the Cosmic Cleaning Lady She might be in a crater, all those places dark and shady Pulling ‘round a bucket filled with mops and stellar sponges Leaning over Rover ‘till at panel dust she lunges
Now another exploration vehicle’s been launched Sending NASA images ‘till panels have been staunched If we can’t get aliens or Alice from Mrs. Brady We can always count on her, the Cosmic Cleaning Lady
Joseph John Racano
*who cleaned the solar panels on the Mars Rover?!
The Black Hole Peering through the darkness toward the cosmic soul My telescope red-radioed a big black hole Bigger than a bread box but smaller than a god It made the Horsehead nebulae look all the much less odd I contacted authorities by faxing them a scan To get the guys from Space-X to formulate a plan A plan to build a rocket ship that ran on neon light (In theory using neon fuel would serve to keep the rocket cool) Through wind and weather, it came together We used what tools we had Within a year the end was near The ship sat on the pad I got a call from Elon Musk He said the ship would launch at dusk Mechanics rolled up cardboard mats Ground crew all wore tin foil hats The moon rose up, we counted down Liftoff at the stroke of sundown Streak of light into the night Systems go it all worked right At four we hit the worm-hole door Our space suits leaking on the floor By five we’d left the human hive Then pitch and yaw but still alive After that was just a blur Until we heard a Martian slur They don’t take kindly to our kind Left those antennae-heads behind Turbulence and sickening drops Out the wormhole spaceship pops And there it was in all its’ glory Spinning hole please tell your story “Well” he said, as he cleared his throat “Tell Mr. Musk I really like his boat. The neon drive is a novel idea Now try some of this in here and in here” We instantly went into spin It was easier to see out than it was to see in We started going back in time Was that my mom singing nursery rhyme? We ricocheted around the hole And saw into the cosmic soul All events through space and time Before my eyes and wholly mine Dinosaurs were there among us So were the three ships of Christopher Columbus Holy crosses, midget tosses Dead-end jobs with lousy bosses People trying to cross the border Fishes flopping out of water Lions on the Serengeti Light beams stretched out like spaghetti “That’s it now, your time is up” said Big Black Hole to frightened pup And just like that, time jerked our rope And I was right back looking through my telescope
Moonset Strip
Friday night on the Moonset Strip Working the late shift was always a trip Ladies night at Dereck’s every drink is a double Martians at the El Cortez a recipe for trouble
Bouncing for the Shore Patrol one weekend a month The work is very dangerous they have to pay up front Another month another mission, paying for my kid’s tuition Fourteen stories, got a jumper broke his fall on someone’s bumper
Lunar Mother, Shore Patrol, set an ambulance to roll Shore Patrol, Lunar Mother, sorry we can’t spare another That’s ok the body’s gone, last seen leaving with a blonde Intercept a perp absconding, roger Mother, now responding
Sirens howling, red lights flashing, into alleys dealers dashing Lunar Base to Shore Patrol rotate over, take control Barroom brawl at El Cortez, do as duty bouncer says Mother, we have made the flip, turning back on Moonset Strip
'Where the stars are in your own backyard The gravity’s light and the pavement’s hard The air is thin and the smoke is thick And on every corner waits a fancy trick It’s Friday night on the Moonset Strip I’m carrying a ray gun with a pistol grip'
Fourteen stories up someone’s puking from the window Lady’s night at Dereck’s, if I wasn’t working I would go Shore Patrol, Lunar Mother, One ship docking then another Meet them at the docking station, issue if you can citation Lunar Mother Shore Patrol we roger that are on the roll
Questioning a handcuffed chick, Friday night on the Moonset Strip To the warehouse had to take her, dammit but we couldn’t break her Made a deal, she sponged a pecker, we in turn expunged her record Arrived in style, Shore Patrol car, dropped her off at Dereck’s bar
Elevator fourteenth floor, Ladies Night, the doubles pour Shore Patrol, what is the hold up, El Cajones in progress hold up You guys playing tricks again? Told you don’t do that my friend Never mind the coast is clear, someone lost their ear ring ear Just like that they said he tripped, Friday night on the Moonset Strip
'Where the stars are in your own backyard The gravity’s light and the pavement’s hard The air is thin and the smoke is thick And on every corner is a fancy trick'
On a desolate planet of silky red sand Monolith spires of scarlet rock stand And in their night sky rises once every eon A lunar cathedral of glowing bright neon
And when from behind it peeks out like a child Becomes at its zenith a cosmic sundial Unerring its stroke on a pendulum rope The grandfather clock by which Zeus did elope
Galaxial whirlpool of circular motion Spiral upwelling in a red cosmic ocean Just for that moment of bottom dead center Does open the portal that mortals may enter
Chauffeured inside via inert red gasses Please wear provided red violet glasses Welcome to class for the first day of college At the stroke we’ll dispense all the universe’s knowledge
Happy New Year Forty Twenty-two A lot of your relatives have been waiting for you I’ll start at the beginning you had a bad crash And were placed in a coma your head took a bash
The decades went by and technology grew The doctors did everything they could for you After a while they all found it strange Suspended animation kept you living long-range
The sons and grandsons of these doctors took over And you were placed onto the Tesla Mars Rover The DNA samples we found from antiquity Were quite beneficial by some serendipity
We gave you injections along with your therapy Moved you to Jupiter, friends worried terribly Some volunteered to knit you a cocoon Then sent it by rocket mail straight from the moon
Now you’re awake and I’m sure you have questions But first please allow me to give you suggestions Have a martini and don’t be so blue Happy New Year, on Jupiter, 4022
Joseph John Racano
artwork by: FerreusDemonArt
Bluepurpla
I was still a young man when I went to the land of Bluepurpla On a bright day in May I set out on my way to Bluepurpla Was it only a myth, did it really exist, I promised to get to the bottom of this I left for off-world I called up my girl lovely Ursula
Her phone rang forever the message was clever Unless you’re a clone, at the sound of the tone leave a message for me I will be all alone, this is Ursula I already heard you’ll be free as a bird on Bluepurpla
Have a care when you go where the cosmic winds blow You will reap what you sow but just go ahead go to Bluepurpla We said our goodbyes through her squeals and her cries darling Ursula I couldn’t reach out to her watering eyes; with each bon voyage a relationship dies Slipped into stasis a long time in space is Bluepurpla
The moons and the suns made peripheral runs Nebulous dust iced our wings by the tons I finally awoke to the smell of fresh buns I turned on the heater and looked at the meter The long journey made the arrival much sweeter
The two way engaged and a voice was enraged A button snapped on and the static was gone
Home base had sent messages now merely vestiges Long ago orders from obsolete borders
Spacecraft arrived and I still alive Apparently I was four thousand and five
And there out the window those cold cosmic winds blow The one lasting memory of someone quite dear to me One who can no longer be anywhere near to me Love always came first with her my dear darling Urula
Upon graduation from a carbon world A motivated group of alien boys and girls Decided they would try to bring into existence Something new and better but they met resistance
‘Just imagine if…’ began the valedictorian ‘I don’t like it,’ said the class Mandalorian ‘OK, hear me out- see all that wide empty space? ‘We could move some planets there to fill up the place’
So it was these graduate industrious aliens Devised a game of billiards both effective and salient Sending many planets quite enormous ringed and Jovian Hurtling through a school zone pissing off the head Monrovian
Yet when all was said and done both space and time did hang Expanding in their proper place pursuant to big bang They even sent an asteroid to free Earth from reptilians No one knows how much they made, I’m sure they got paid millions
The skies coughed blood, the birds drank mud The vast expanses were out of chances The herds fell still, the air was chill The storks performed their final love dances
And off to space, the human race To disappear without a trace The aliens came to find a mess And a sad and lonely I.S.S.
So in our place a round glass case And deep inside a human face A NoAA’s Ark, out in the dark All resurrected from a piece of bark
The E.T.’s came from far around To show their kids what they had found A last best slice of Nature’s pie Held stationary in the sky
epilogue…
So when within a parsec’s throw Please stop in before you go And see the remnants of our race Who had it all but fell from grace
Spacecomp One, do please come in, are you still at your desk If you are, pack up essentials just forget the rest Acknowledge, please acknowledge if you're still about the station The cluster cones have burned away we're leaking radiation
Be sure to load all data to the flashdrive of your choice Cough* and please forgive me I'm about to lose my voice Check outside the windows for conditions on the bridge Don't forget the burlap bag supplies are in the fridge
Was there time to don your suit be sure to bring some water Out here we’re all sitting ducks and floating to the slaughter Rocket-driven canisters of gasoline projectiles Zooming through our ranks like hungry bat-wing Pterodactyls
Spacecomp One if you can read me send a signal flare Shoot it straight above your head I’ll see it if it’s there The central core is glowing and will soon begin expansion Guess I won’t retire back on Earth to that McMansion
If you managed to escape, got out and got away Get a message to my wife I’ll tell you what to say The mission was a waste of time there’s no one left on Mars Everybody went to Earth and purchased fancy cars
Now we’ve come full circle Earth to Mars and back to Earth And I regret not dying on the planet of my birth Spacecomp One I’m signing off I leave command to you Choose any spiral galaxy and launch my casket through
Joseph John Racano
The Beacon
Call the Whitehouse call the deacon Earth has just received a beacon Cross expanses radar dances No one really knows the reason
Willy nilly through the cosmos Far flung signals alien radios Bouncing off the rings of Saturn So far no one sees a pattern
Could it be Omuamua Once again come passing through-a
Star-storm lightning Downright frightening Tumbling dice rolled through the eons Please alert the Europeans
Doesn’t make much sense at all Unless it’s just a return call Spock to base please let me know Who called 8 billion years ago
I couldn’t reach the phone in time I guess they got my silly rhyme
Whosoever rang the line Please call back another time
Leave your name and time of calling Oops our civilization’s falling!