Aphelion Issue 298, Volume 28
September 2024
 
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Photographic Proof

by G. O. Clark


The silver UFO
landed on the roof of my
grandparent’s one hundred
year old farmhouse, right
smack dab in the middle
of Iowa.

It flattened the old
wooden structure, crushed
my grandpa and grandma, and
gave the local folks something
to argue about for many
years to come.

Was the alien craft
an advanced scout sent to
scope out the terrain ahead
of the invasion, which, to this
day has yet to happen?

Did the silver craft
have some kind of malfunction
and succumb to our gravity before
finding a suitable place to land,
and, first contact audience?

They left soon after
charging their batteries, or
fixing a glitch; minor damage done,
Earth unscathed, news accounts
archived, NORAD still
scanning the skies.

As for my grandparents,
I never really got to know them,
only two years old when I evidently
met them, a few grainy photos the
only proof of my encounter with
them, or a UFO.


© 2023 G. O. Clark

G. O. Clark’s work has ben published in Asimov’s, Analog, and many others over the last thirty years. He is the author of 16 poetry collections, most recent, "Tombstones: Selected Horror Poems”, 2022. http://goclarkpoet.weebly.com

Find more by G. O. Clark in the Author Index.