George is an artist who lives and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico. S.K. is an Australian poet who will be the visiting writer at the University of South Dakota in 1996. His other poetry volumes include 1991's Atomic Ballet and 1992's Dingo Sky. The poems below are from his forthcoming book Trans-Sumatran Highway and Other Poems.
It's been a great year for news
Morning birds sing the alarm clock song.
& buying newspapers
installing a clown
as President
taking over most everything.
And now I own the lot
the experiment can begin
so I'm on my way to pick up
the cloned alien DNA to mix
in with the newsprint
and rubbing readers' fingers
whatever happens will quickly take effect .
Everything's done: the morning edition
throbs with a signature I'm giving to life.
This holiday's well and truly earned,
the jet's ready, the girls, an island of honey.
On the way to the airport the engine seizes
What does it profit a man jolts heart
and the driver slams brakes.
Something about Gethsemane
and a blinding light, a genie (or is it an angel)
says it's time to earn back soul and life.
Cruel world snuffs out the last candle
-- almost -- delicious flames lick just enough
now the junket begins in sleaze
where kids on suicide mission
guide a grand tour of body fission.
A poster for a cholera safari catches my eye
at the crook cafe as I search the classifieds for real estate
to invest in around the burning lake and
order another glass of lava.
The waiters wink, never return with that drink.
I wait and wait until the world dissolves.
God is scattering me sun to sun,
planets pass through my dust belly
and Heaven's gate is ancestors' laughter.
Whistle and speed up the seasons,
come, come o summer.
I would not recommend the Moon/Mars package
tour, or the equally boring long haul
out to Kursa in Beta Eridani. Booking
accommodation well in advance is wise though entirely futile
before holidaying
on one of the volcano worlds orbiting
Hamal Markal in Pegasi.
By the time you arrive your hotel is likely to be
buried in lava. But a visit is unforgettable: burning landscapes
are nicely counterbalanced by the inhabitants'
delicate sense of civilization, they quietly sip
tea and discuss poetry as the world melts away.
Officials and businessmen appreciate the convention facilities on Xi Pegasi,
where a black hole's calm pervades, enhancing keen ideas and deals...
Ah, the tiger women of nearby Mu Piscium
The kids will delight at a stopover on the dinosaur planet
Suarus in Chi Piscium, though be sure to always wear
at least one article of red clothing, and
remove shoes before entering a house of worship.
The carnivores get quite fanatical when a frenzy's up.
Fifty light years (ly) away is a planet
with reputedly the best surf in the galaxy
and the dakka is, well, unearthly.
Iota Piscium Delta is a splendid place for honeymooners;
two suns blaze at midnight
make lovers feel like lying down forever.
Just a hop-skip and a jump is the intriguing fourth
planet from the green sun Sadalmelik in Alpha Aquarii
where the only industry is the manufacture of
travel brochures.
Alpha Equuiei
Gamma Pegasi is cosmos to the blind star Algenib named to
honor the works of a 10,000 year old sage
whose latest incarnation has produced
his most stellar lyrics to date. The architecture of Algenib's
twelfth planet is also notable: the buildings dissolve
every twenty-five years.
Last year
There's a Zaurian trader doing the Sirius overnight shuttle leaving in half an hour and you can even take your dog - that's a joke!
Zeta Andromedae Alpha Major is literally a dump: mountains
Delta Equuiei on the other hand, abounds with
Mira in Omicron Ceti turned out, to everyone's surprise,
If you're not up to the rigors of deep space travel
Personally, I'd recommend the wormhole trek in the nineteen
Or Bright Archernar,
Maybe Eta Draconis ....
Here's a good one: the Crux excursion is
Raging through the Nine Known Worlds of Orion
I knew a viciousness beyond ecstasy
I learned the local comets' languages
gained an insight into their traditions
and cosmology.
Altogether they were a palatial mind
spread across a solar system.
But Orion's booked out
till May.
of garbage block out the sky, the oceans
are sewers and not one tree remains.
Take plenty of oxygen if you insist on visiting.
the most interesting trees. They eat flesh voraciously
and their animal husbandry is most efficient. And
they will eat you, too. Don't go
unless you want to quickly end up as fertilizer.
to be a binary system. Mira II is invisible as the first
explorers discovered, in dramatic fashion. There is not much to do
apart from inspect the shells of burnt out starships.
then Mars at 1.2368 au might be for you.
The ruined cities beneath the surface
-- archaeologists say our ancestors came from here --
are fascinating if you like that kind of thing
and the asteroids can be breathtaking
during a solar storm when light
glows within travellers' souls.
molten worlds of Eta Aquarii where one can view the birth
of a solar system. Now that's part of an educational package.
blazing sun in the system Alpha Eridani
a real mind-bender, a trip through a constellation where
some claim Australian spirits rest.
Whatever, Antipodean tourists return feeling blessed
and, on the voyage home, enjoy the antics of the space turtles
doing pirouettes on meteors.