No Ruined Lunar City
by Greg Beatty
There is no ruined lunar city,
no airless Macchu Picchu
on the moon.
No spires rise in leaping
Seussian whimsy,
enabled by the one sixth gee.
There are no domes cracked
by random meteorites,
leaving homes below exposed—
dead and full of surprised dead.
There are no teddy bears
worn threadbare by loonie hands,
eyes cracked by extreme days and nights.
There are no pools of orange
Tang swirled with moondust,
homage spiraling with artistry.
There are no empty spacesuits,
their linings dry and cracked
from decades without air.
No, there are no lost
cities on the moon,
with squares that recall Topeka,
Vladivostok, Quito, or Rome
and streets that run
from crater to mare
only to stand empty
because men have moved on.
But there will be.
__________
Greg Beatty suffered from writer’s block for several years, and credits the great folks at the Clarion West 2000 writing workshop for restarting his writing engine. He’s currently working on a children’s picture book titled The Man Who Gave Orders to Cats.
Copyrighted by the author unless otherwise noted.
Art Director: Bonnie Brunish
