Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I've Left The Planet - 3WW


3WW CCLXVII click on that, brother.

Each week, I post three words. You write something using the words.

Then come back and post a link to the contribution with Mr. Linky (but please, link to the exact post, not your blog, by clicking on the exact post title and paste it to Mr. Linky below). As always, there's no hard-and-fast rule that you have to post on Wednesday.

This week's words:

Draft; Locate; Serenity.


I've Left The Planet

I dodged the stinking
draft, I had to. Thom found this
worth a draft or two
each for the boyos.
Yes, I kept your dope sealed up,
draft free for some while.
I did locate time
and space all fresh and bright, new
coordinates kept
tight on the down low.
My drive for serenity:
now a fool's errand.

(If you think I know
what I'm doing you're sadly
mistaken again.)

April 11, 2012 4:43 AM


I pretty much started reading by getting hold of my Dad's collection of science fiction when I was in second and third grade. This is a typical example of a cover from that sort of magazine:

This cover probably predates my Dad's collection, which included primarily Galaxy, Astounding, and The Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction. However, I can tell you that each of the writers listed on the Avon cover were contributors to the magazines at my hand. I'm the nerd who read every kid's science fiction book in the local library and most of the adult choices too. In junior high and high school I would steal the mags and books sold in the local pharmacy to keep my reading habit fed. Obsession and compulsion. I never got caught. I have a criminal mind and I had stern parents. It was really important I did not get caught.

That successful training of mind and body of course served me well in later activity.





11 comments:

  1. I would never presume to think anyone knows what they are doing..
    especially poets:)Enjoyed your poem.

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  2. This brought back memories of 'the day the earth stood still'.. (the good version)..I love when sci fi is the grit of now..we all have impossible missions..being if leaving the house to buy bread or saving the world..if you are going to brave going out however maybe it's best to make it worth its while and head for another planet..Jae

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  3. I always thought poetry was the feel of it so and the emotion it evoked I loved this.

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  4. Love this poem, especially the lines
    "My drive for serenity:
    now a fool's errand."
    I can identify with that thought :-)

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  5. Never say never - springs to mind, candid post. Well presented, love the bit about the sci-fi!

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  6. I haven't read many science fiction poetry, yours is very good.Keep writing. Cheers.

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  7. Hmm, Chris, I think I pushed the science fiction thing on this post. I wonder if the poem was posted without the heavy dose of pictures and the science fiction history whether anyone would call it sci-fi. It has draft dodging, beer drinking, and dope of some kind in it, dope that does better in a controlled atmosphere (nearly everything on the street is like that). Only after that do I fiddle with space/time coordinates, but those apply to head space and geography as easily as outer space. Then the poem's about being a fool and not knowing much.

    I pushed it by naming it "I've Left The Planet" but I could've named it "Off A Couple Clicks", saying much the same thing.

    What if the picture was a close up of a sniper's hand adjusting a gun sight? As far as I am concerned, that would have worked too. Here is a good demonstration of the importance of context, I think.

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  8. Thanks for all the comments, my friends.

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  9. "of course served served me well in alter activity." *snicker*. Of course now we are all left to wonder. The consequences of "caught" make for fine criminals!

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  10. Annie, it was hard to decipher your quote because of a couple errors. When I did, I of course can't tell you what I mean or I would have to kill something nearby. I don't want to kill you, ever, so I would have to displace that imperative onto some local innocent. It is far better for me that I stop right now :D

    I guess I'll go rob a bank now.

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  11. Your poem is a condensation of a specific time and place, and you nailed it.

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The chicken crossed the road. That's poultry in motion.


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