it's an artifact dialing
twenty lines ringing dead
from a two-seater flying;
leave the receiver down, it's in your head

hard mid-atlantic
a package goes through
nailed to the mailbox
the tinkerer is expecting you

sleeping on rooftops
for solid receive
we've learned how it goes
only the solemn hero knows it

assembling the weapon
coiling the wire
loading the engines
coat after coat after coat

lucky royal blue
acrylic, waterproof
pilot print remains
spacecraft overspray

he's not even thirteen
you've hit fifty-four
he slept in this wednesday
you're creeping down your rural route

you ride on the right hand
barely notice this box
to 21613-1019
from some nebraska mail order shop

he's studied this aircraft
you've always looked down
to hear radio silence
no turbulence, no engine sound

"some curious accident"
"more misfortune", you've read
since you can't help but miss it
he's bringing down the sky instead

oh, and the clouds are charged
electron potential stored
waits on a whispered word
thumbed button starts the burn

this summer afternoon
thunder runs the fields
you still drive your rounds
neither rain nor sleet nor

and you see the bolt
but you never see the wire
or the blue model rocket
or the rending fuselage

and you're his right hand man
you only do your job
bring the dry cells, detonator
eight-foot copper-clad ground rod

he will scan the sky
you'll drive your hundred miles
you'll drive your hundred miles
you'll drive your hundred...



hobby rockets (right hand drive)

BacK


copyright 2005 daniel s. zimmerman