Wednesday's Verse - Planetary Relief

This week’s verse moves from a science fiction poem about exploring space to a science fiction poem about why people might abandon a world. It is taken from 366 Days of Poetry, a collection of mixed-genre poetry released in 2016.

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Planetary Relief

Outward flows the river

of people, past the sky,

past the moon and sun,

the nearest worlds and closest stars.

“Where are you going?” the planet cries.

“To a newer world,” comes the reply.

“And what of I?” the planet begs. “What of I?”

“You have served us well, but now we have to leave.

Your water now lies fouled and scarce,

insufficient for our needs.

The land’s infertile, too hard to fix.”

“So you’d abandon me, to the stink and waste,

a world broken by your hands?”

But they did not reply,

gone.

Leaving nothing of their presence,

but a vapour trail, and engine song.

The planet sighed,

a gentle breeze,

a storm wind breaking through the trees,

a planetary howl,

a global wail,

a maelstrom of worldly discontent,

scouring clean the skies,

the pollution not replaced,

now the parasites had left.

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You can find the first two poetry collections at the links below - although there are plans to reissue them with more genre-appropriate covers in the future. The third collection will be released later in the year.

books2read.com/u/mVLQZb

books2read.com/u/bxgyLd