SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Sunday Drive

We’re heading south on 119
while the Spirit rover is inching
its way across Mars.

I think I’m pregnant.

Spirit parks in front of a football-sized rock.
I tell no one what I think
is happening inside my body.

Spirit pauses
then sends signals back to Earth.
You’re driving too fast.

In a day or two Spirit
is supposed to reach out its arm
and examine the rock, determine minerals and elements.

If it’s true, I’ll want to keep the baby.

Spirit should then drill into the rock
to reveal its interior.

If it’s true, I’ll have to tell you.

The President says he wants to send a man to Mars.
I say, Mars is not the moon.
You will say
our lives are going backwards.

Spirit is waiting for its twin, Opportunity.

I am waiting
for pictures that show me
more than red silt and desolate rock.

- Irene Latham

I've got a little science-geek in me apparently... I'm fascinated by all things space-related. I love reading about the mysteries of the cosmos, and anytime there's a crew in space I pay attention. Fortunately we live just a hop skip and a jump from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, so space pics and the latest exploration info always makes the newspaper. Wish I could dash over to the other side of the world for the Aug. 1 total eclipse of the sun. Sigh. Not this year...

"From my close observation of writers... they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review."

= Isaac Asimov