The Far Shores of Saucerland - Selections

SELECTIONS:

I. The beginning

Remember the day, o say, o say

When the aliens came

Remember the day, o say, o say

Our skies and cities aflame

Bright saucers skipping

Across the sky

Human heads screaming

The end is nigh

Days smashed to slivers,

Streaming like bees from broken hives

Never has so much gleaming silver

Blackened so many lives

We were left only words

We were masons no more

Creatures of lithium batteries

Silicon chips, plastic cards and

Artificial hips

Our skyscrapers built with mighty cranes

Without those tools we are tamed

Stonecutting is a lost art

No pyramids for us, 

or henges or magnificent busts 

to encode the day, 

o say, o say, 

the aliens came to stay

The aliens took the towers

and left us the fields

What buildings they ignored

we pilfered, emptied and fled

Rabbits raiding I-beam warrens

Grasping at flotsam in our dread

We molded cities makeshift and mobile

Out of twine and tarp,

Rusted carriages, squeaky wheels

Every broken part

We wander the fields like cows

The bovine herds upset at our intrusion

They are much more used to this agrarian life 

While we are not adjusted

No hooves have we to trod the earth

Or tails to swish away flies

Only our skin, our fear

And our memories

Some fled to the foothills then the mountains

No aliens there or so they thought

They bred like rabbits and had some in their stew

Twigs, pinecones and comfrey, too

Those who knew the old ways

the ways of armor and herbs

Spread the ken around

Make a fire thus, bind an arm so

In the shade of the poplar tree at night

You’ll find the secrets of the faeries

An act so blindly selfish and 

so wantonly selfless, those matings,

Humping in the hills until the pain drifted away

The clutch of skin drove out the fire of the sky

Their muscles spasmed 

shaking off the burned night

We wander the fields 

and watch the skies

Our vagabond masses 

mingle and clash

With other roaming clans

Most times we greet in peace,

barter, boast and warn 

Then move on like amoebas -

peoplepods groping across the land

Sometimes the fear rises, 

beams having flashed the night before

And we assail the other mass or they attack us

Like locusts, we are dormant then we swarm

A rhyme and reason we do not jibe

But our bones make us follow it

II. Meeting up with another tribe of survivors

Now I must refocus

For we did come upon

Another bundle of

Humanity, tarped and

Swaddled in sheets and things

Not intended for such use

But pressed into service

Like ages ago lark-abouts

Turned into sailors of

That worthy fleet from

Ole Brittania, they unwillingly

Conquered the world, had it

In their hand and spun it ‘round

As they traveled ‘round it

Until they were replaced by 

Da Gama and other Portuguese

I wonder, do the aliens

Have ethnicities?

We stand in our mottled cloaks

On one high lip and they 

Stand across from us on the other,

Between an untouched, untrammeled

An inviting bright greensward

Hale, healthy, beckoning; confusion

We murmur as we stare at them 

And the field, so, too, they - confused

By the impeccable, groomed lushness

Before us, like an emerald it sparkles,

A section of earth that seems to the aliens

Unknown, somehow forgotten, like it

Was years ago, o say, say

Before the aliens came to stay

A surface that has not yielded to

The beams from above or been

Overly-trod by oddly shod soles

Boots, shoes and the such worth

Their weight and fit in gold

In this new world, 

no one is making new ones

Well, one fellow is but his skill and designs

Leave one hankering for a simple slip-on

Or a hearty Timberland

Anyway, I digress, no such foot

Had stepped on this field 

in countless days, 

prim, fit and welcoming

We and they knew not what to do with it

I, unlike all the previous times 

when our group was faced 

with first encounters and equal decisions,

Stepped forward and called 

to those across the way 

A simple question, “Do you have a ball?” 

then I flicked my hands and kicked my foot 

at an imaginary sphere

Taken for a split second 

by the idea of our sphere, 

The earth, as somehow 

imaginary as the one

I had just aimed at 

the others across the way,

A like-minded soul over there came forward

Pulling from underneath his turkish towelish garment

A soiled and beautiful soccer ball

And together, all, we cheered

Both sides and again and thrice

Then we descended to the ’sward 

Most resting on the sides while the braver, eager

Fellows chose up sides and we played,

Played a simple game that invoked our

Youth and the ages of the past in 

One and the same motion

Halfback, fullback, striker, goalie

Defense, offense, midfield and, blessed be,

There were no referees

Timeless, I played then sat

Sweat upon my brow

And down my back

Many exchanged places

Sitting, watching then playing

The game never really started nor ended

It swelled like an orchestra tuning up

Then broke into a giddy romp 

Then trailed off only to storm up again

With a new batch of players taking

To the pitch, cycle after cycle of bicycle kicks,

Headers and silly trick passes that had

No hope of success and thus were joyous

For neither the ball nor the players 

Had a care in the world except to keep moving,

Keep playing, keep grooving

The game ended when the sun setted

Smoke from cook fires warmed the air

As bodies cooled down, tempers were fair

And even-keeled, peaceful, calm

We even kneeled - a prayer was uttered

The first I’d heard since…

By a bloke from the other group

A lanky fellow with elbows ruddy

And pants yellow, he fit in nicely

With the haphazard crowd we were

Yet stood out just enough

His voice timberish, crackly and creaky,

Full of strength, he nodded to our meekly 

Efforts that so far had worked 

To keep our skin and bones conjoined 

Under such circumstances

And praised our hearts that had come together

Two groups unknown on this fine field

On this fine day 

Such a day was that, we all wanted

It to last, yet we all knew too, too

Well that it could not be so,

After cooked meats and naps

Our retreats were made - equally

Warily, so that our knees would not shake

From loss or fear, losing a bond and fearing

The beams from above and missiles from 

Across the way - arrows, javelins, spears

Whatever might have been at hand

But this unlike other partings was

Laced with regret, a thought I’m sure

Shared by many yet unvoiced

Perhaps, perhaps we could stay here, right

Here and make something of this spot

Perchance the ‘sward was like a piece

Of a child’s game - a game the children no 

Longer play - home base, time out, olly olly

Oxen free or was it all come in free?, twas so

Long ago I can’t remember or, truth, chose 

Not to, memories being the things of shards and spikes

Unruly, untrustworthy, misleading

At the greensward both groups cast their last glances then 

Turned and fled down short hills so as not to be tempted

By the other group with whom we’d played and

Banqueted so recently

Trust after the devastation is a thing hard fed 

We feed our bodies mostly, our  minds only little

Our hearts fend for themselves and so with one last wave

At the man with the ball and the other that prayed

We parted

*****

II. Remembrance

We needed to believe 

our story would be told

And heard not just recorded, 

no golden records for us, 

we yearned for living trusts 

and so you see how I came to be 

a walking, talking history

Of our group, one of three, 

trained and rehearsed,

Professors who once strode around 

in black, flapping robes now reduced, 

less their ivory towers, plus a common touch

Now they made us recite 

and note and repeat

The events of the mob,

 one action per day, this collegial

Board agreed, at least, was the need 

to make a worthy descendant of Homer 

and his ilk, I learned when I asked

“Why three?” that Homer was - 

most likely - multiple, face and a name 

that covered many unknown authors

Stretching back into the 

mist of unwritten history

Then when next I queried “Why me?” 

the nodding, chalky dotards 

said “You are unschooled and thus unsullied, 

tabula rasa, no need to unlearn language patterns needed, 

you can start from scratch - here and now - 

and we’ll be the batch that shows you how.”

I’m sure you have one particular 

question along with many others,

Like how did I get to that age, 

adult as the rest, 

without benefit of book learning? 

I see the question in your face

A place I know now 

that holds the secrets of the soul

If you can learn to discern it, 

well, ’tis simple, I grew up 

On the streets between 

Radcliffe and Dalrymple

The first a square, the second a circle 

and both the boundaries of my life 

young and unguided

I slept on rooftops and beside gutters, 

down alleys, behind shutters

Of empty homes, that section of city, 

you see, had many a second home, 

for me to use when their owners were away,

I left the harder streets to other, younger squeaks, 

I left them behind when I was ten 

and accidentally fell asleep on a bus, 

I woke with a fright at the route’s end 

when the driver kicked me out, 

I begged of him a ride

But he shook his head and wagged his finger, 

insulted me and strenuously denied

Any knowledge or ability 

which might aid me

When I jumped off the bus 

to avoid his booted toe

I found myself on a regal hill 

with a view down below

Of the big city

Somewhere in there 

was the block I’d called 

Home since my mom lost her throne 

and was thrown into the slammer, 

the nuthouse while I ran from the cops

Then hid on the streets in plain sight 

and learned to plead my plight 

to certain passersby, the ones 

with sadness in their grins

The ones with the clothes just so - 

not posh, not rented but middling

Those ones would more often 

than others took pity on me 

and spare me a bit, a piece 

for, they knew, if they didn’t 

I’d have to nick bread and cheese

Or whatever pleased me that day 

to fill my belly, I often wondered 

what they said once home and settled 

To their loved ones, did they mention me 

or not? Did they pride themselves 

on their generosity or was it more pity 

for me they felt?

There, years later, them having joined my ranks

As unhomed and wandering, 

the aliens their spur from home

Whilst mine was my lost mother 

and now here with your questions

I wonder did something similar 

happen to you?

I thank you for the meal, the table, 

The bed and its pillow

But I do not know why you keep me inside 

this concrete cell inside my own house

I’ll sing long and often 

For my supper,  

made from my own supplies

I see that’s what you want, 

more info, more data, 

you have the look of ones 

who need to figure out logistics

In a minuscule way as if 

minutia properly patterned 

had a power to make empires fall

Still I wonder about the true nature

Of your inquiries

Your talks have slipped singular clues 

that I have rounded up and collared, 

a herd have I of details that

Tell me things have changed in paradise

and that change is why you hide here with me

Perhaps, you hope, that I might provide

Some key knowledge, 

some enzymatic-esque tidbit

That will when uttered change your existence,

Aha, eureka, just so, 

it figures that with my time 

Out there under those skies 

that I did indeed come to learn 

enough for you to have my concern

As your top issue, that is why 

I speak to you now so I may maintain 

my position of valued prisoner,

 Helpful captive, invaluable inmate 

and to prove it so 

I will now tell you of the androids

*****

III. Preparation

Ginny nodded, flipped thru the stacks of graphics 

once more making sure to see them all fully

So they stayed in her mind permanent and

That settled me for in the back of my head

I knew I was no longer dependent on just 

My memory or these papers just in case…

In case we are beamed at and made vapor

Even if just the drawings and nothing else made

Gone-ing by the alien beams, it would be a

Setback major for I knew I could not

Go back to land-faerie so soon without

Lingering there too long, finding a way 

To tarry there for decades of real time 

While my tribe suffered and dispersed

Without me as their center, faerie is

Powerful that way - enticing against

All will and logic, that is its very nature

And why we find it romantic - in all senses

Alluring, mystifying, entrancing, making

Captives of those who submit too much 

To it.

Ginny and I sat after someone brought 

Us coffee - Coffee! - My god, how I’d missed

It, the chipped mug with unicorn pony

Appeared to me like the grail holy when 

It was rested in my hands, trembled did

They so like the first time I pulled down

My pants in front of a woman though

Being sixteen just like me, Sarah Beamon

Was just barely a woman, though we 

Weren’t thinking of that as we began

Our mutual first and awkwardly brief

Briefless encounter, last I’d heard she’d 

Married a judge and had a little herd of

Five chill’uns, Anyway, forget that, the coffee

I swear this is true, tasted a bit like faerie-

World smelt, I thought I was mistaking 

This, my brain so queered by my recent

Journeys there and dismissed it ’til 

Ginny sipped it and said, “Odd 

Aroma, never had coffee like that

Before,” I lifted my cup and clinked

Them we did drinking most feverishly

Downing their contents in three gulps, then 

Four, handed them back to the one

Who’d brought them and said, “More 

Please, as much as you’ve got, keep it

Coming, we’ve a plan to plot.”

Ginny and I sat in conference

Debating heatedly a way to 

Explain the things in my brain

Some easy to tell, others not

Quite so well taken in by those

We needed to act them out, G.

Recommended simple truth

Put it forth all and every detail

While I hesitated thinking all 

Would rebel once I told them

What I needed of them, that a 

Couple of years it would be 

Before we could bring it to be

- My plan, that is, my vision,

What I knew to be true even 

Though I had no logical right

To believe it so, such was the leap 

That we needed to make, not just 

Me and Ginny, not just the tribe

But many others, too, all of us

If possible as many as we could

Gather, the more the merrier

Not quite the emotion that 

Will come about once accomplished

But merry due to relief, to excitement

Of goal attained and burden lifted, 

Merry as band of strangers 

Comes unified and exemplifies

What is possible with many hands

Working together, we can lift 

Our people and our people 

Includes everyone human, 

Lift our throng of a voice 

Up to the heavens and 

Declare our understanding

So the aliens know we get

What they’re doing, not 

Attacking but preparing, 

Readying, clarifying, 

Perhaps extracting and

Sometimes painfully that

Comes since the subjects,

We, did not understand,

A cosmic trip to the dentist

Is this, poking and probing,

Numbing manipulation,

Left alone, our spittle sucked

Thru a straw while we’re blasted

With invisible beams that

Generate ghostly images 

Which provide needed information

Which member of the toothy 

Band is healthy, which can remain

Which needed polishing or removal,

Novocained again, we sometimes 

Even go under for full dental-

People surgery; we are the cutting

Edge, the masticators of the 

Galaxy, the aliens the openers 

And closers of the solar mouth,

The muscles, I guess, they’d be

But without us and our pearly 

Points, their contractions would

Be useless, maybe even self-damaging,

They need us the way a hand

Needs fingers, that is why they

Hover and linger, making sure

There is no infection below, 

Our regular millennial check-

Up is what this invasion is,

Or close enough that the 

Metaphor fits, in truth we

Can’t really understand it,

Like alien pets we stare up

At them when they blast us

Like rover does when we deny

Him his food when his tummy’s

upset, or take away his bone

So he won’t choke on shards of it