
POETRY
Cylindropuntia Spatium
by Marsheila Rockwell
All the void
A star-filled desert
This sleek ship
Our silver wain
*
AI driver
Lays a course
Shortcut? Short circuit?
Asteroid field
*
We fly too near
One pulls us in
A chunk breaks off
Sprouts hungry spines
*
Hooked and hollow
They pierce the hull
Drain our power
And so we drift
*
Our once-sleek ship
Vain pioneer
Now propagates
Their stellar seed
*
Cylindropuntia Spatium
Space cholla
END

Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell is a Rhysling Award-nominated poet and the author of multiple books, short stories, poems, and comics. A disabled pediatric cancer/mental health awareness advocate and reconnecting Chippewa/Métis, she lives in the desert with her family, buried under books. Follow her on Twitter: @MarcyRockwell.
Poetry by Marsheila Rockwell:
"Cylindropuntia Spatium" June 2021