Comet

Two lovers quarrel above
A planet’s orbit, they are
Each the others resonance

Among stars, the friction
Shifts quasars as myths
Dissolve against the void –

Soon moon crowds witness
An apocalyptic flash
Through constellations.

A blind meteor sizzles in while
Elementals and animals scatter –
The crash site is massive,

Comet spatter everywhere –
Protrusions bend and slink
From metal wreckage bits.

Octopus suction cups flap–
Tin-foil antennas zap,
Snapping up space bugs & dregs.

The fat contusion alarm bells
And whistles, a switchboard’s
Intestines flare in swells of red.

Its tangled circuitry still gurgles –
Survivors bandage the wound,
The impaled thing must remain still.

Medics trundle the purple lunar
Surface in a rickety space
Buggy, more blank casualties

Are dragged onto celestial beds –
There are useless calculations,
Beeping artillery wheel past the chaos.

Finally, the mechanistic white coats
Synthesize into one noise –
Their bones turn ultraviolet,

Heads beam electric green, among
Dull nebulae, black saucer eyes
Squint with more suspicions said

Under breath, only the trajectory
Will properly heal, though how
Can we tell her the wound will glow forever?

Holly R. Appling lives in Canada. Her poems have appeared in a variety of publications. More of her writing is at www.hollyappling.wordpress.com.

Find more by Holly R. Appling in the Author Index.

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