The Fire, the Friend and the Foe.
– after ROM: Spaceknight #4, March 1980.
Casey has a telescope.
Points it every evening at the stars.
Wants to be a scientist
like Maria Mitchell or Grace Cook.
Tonight she’s looking westwards.
Just below the moon she sees two lights.
a silver and a crimson one,
too small and too fast for satellites.
She adjusts the focus,
corrects the angle.
And then a flash comes from the red one.
And then another from the silver.
They’re circling each other.
Moving in together, then apart.
The silver one flies higher.
Jagged lines of red streak after it.
Bolts of silver lightning.
Tiny fires snake across the sky.
Now the red one’s falling.
Silver dives to follow red’s descent.
She adjusts the focus,
corrects the angle.
And did she really see what she just saw?
Two fighting stars with human outlines?
And did they vaporise each other?
Or only fall below the horizon?
How will she tell her friends about this?
When will she see those stars again?
This week’s poem is part of Poem: Spaceknight, a suite of poems written in response to the 1980s Marvel Comics cyborgs-vs-aliens comic written by Bill Mantlo, and rhythmically inspired by “Berserk Warriors” by Mental as Anything.
For more of my poems, head to the Books or Other poems and stories sections of this site.
Come back next week for another poem. And to find out what I’m working on and where you can read my latest writings, sign up for Adam’s Occasional Poetry News.
If you’re thinking about publishing POEM: Spaceknight as a complete work, I’d love to get a copy to present to my brother, Bill Mantlo! I believe he would thoroughly enjoy this! Thank you for your passion for ROM! –Mike Mantlo