THE CHIEF ENGINEER FLASHES
back to better days on the Amon—Re
and the dream of farflung stars fulfilled

Subconscious hum a part of pulse
Life within the living shell
The carapace of titanium steel
A challenge of man's will impressed
Against the soul-freezing chill of void
The sucking vacuum that can strip
The soft meat molecules of flesh
In a boiling outward rush
From underpinning wickerwork
Of marrow-honeycombed collagen
And calcium phosphate fragile
Latticework of endoskeleton

Carapace star-foraging
Monument to synergy to totals
Exceeding to the infinite
The numbered sum inventory of inter-
Dependent elemental parts
Or cellwork

Subconscious hum transmitted
Through the clicking soles of boots
Striding the perceived
Down of deck
The inner ear vibrating
To the resonance
That long since has resolved
Into the substantive
Unkeyed framework of existence

Subconscious hum of steel-walled womb
Housing the generative core
Of fission drives'
Unlocking of the power
Implicit
In the essential nucleus

Subconscious hum of bulkheads
Of conductors  of cables  of cords
Of digital displays  of damper rods
Of engines' throb merged
With flesh closer than the limb-lock
Of any human lover

Above.  Beneath.  Soul-Circling.
The slow swirl of the scarab skein
Of a billion flaming farflung stars.

— t. Winter-Damon

A chapbook by t. Winter-Damon
is reviewed
here.

All rights to this poem belong to its author.

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