Once you cross the line
the going back has gone
we, the life is elsewhere believers
the golden age retrospecters
we are primed as rocket fodder
suckers on the sci-fi writers
many, many have already gone
under the knife and withdrawn
we who protested population
viewed eugenics as liberation
upheld castration as vocation
we’ve opted in for exploration
out of the masses they are drawn
as isolates to switch attention on
the possibility of endless space
between here and an off-world someplace
numbers in a trial-and-error database
we the unknown unknowingly embrace
a prerequisite pre-fontal incision
after which they’ll need no decision
we’ve forgotten how we planned
can barely reason or understand
the ideal personality is bland
they have put our heads in the sand
it’s all been agreed between Nasa and Martian
no exploration beyond human cognition
Am enjoying listening on iPad to vintage BBC radio: ‘Jouney into Space: The Red Planet’ and was inspired by Izzy at Toads with this image for her: Soviet Kitsch
the ideal personality is bland, ah, that is indeed a scary senario
can’t have personalities exploring space!
This is totally cool!
😎
I can totally see a world of social engineering and Gulag corrective measures for those that fail… a wonderful poem.
appreciate that! have fantasies of leaving earth but not sure humans are responsible enough for outer space without frontal lobotomies!
off-world is an option for the 1% of the 1%
I dread it might have a future reality for the 60% of the 50%
Awesome, awesome use of rhyme here.
been listening to some early Dylan – think it rubbed off here!
Love this poem, the form, your words, all of it. What a great take on today’s prompt.
appreciate your words very much especially as they tumbled out hesitantly at first
Clever clever last lines there. Really good work done through out! Loved the use of rocket fodder and sci fi suckers. So rich! Thanks for posting to the out of standard.
oh thank you – just took off with this challenge- am flush with your praise Issy
Wonderfully written, and perhaps too allegorical for comfort.
this challenge seems to brought the sci-fi sucking dystopian to the surface so thank you Rosemary
Oh how we have lost ourselves “we’ve forgotten how we planned can barely reason or nderstand
the ideal personality is bland they have put our heads in the sand” Strong writing…Great piece!
that’s what happens after lobotomies Susie – the ideal human guinea pig for space experiments 😐
Intense! I love this:
“we the unknown unknowingly embrace
a prerequisite pre-fontal incision
after which they’ll need no decision”
Wow.
be careful what you volunteer for Hannah 😉