Explosions: Challenger and Hindenburg

APOSTROPHE TO THE GOODYEAR BLIMP

ON BEHALF OF THE CHALLENGER



For us living

The cerulean bay is tacked with silver

As the colly birds ply from their rookery.



Once upon a time,

You were the inspiration

With which our hearts rose.



There was a time

In which, you too, exploded

At the very peak of rightness.



Now you’ve got that eye

For spectacle and catastrophe,

A wanderer among the winds.



You’re a silvered man

In aviation, wise and alive,

In your cool uses.



Pray for your baby.

Let her be worthy

Of the phoenix

And the unicorn.



January 1986

"Apostrophe to the Goodyear Blimp on Behalf of the Challenger" was first published in City Magic, 1987.  Shortly after the Challenger explosion, I was sitting on my balcony when the Goodyear blimp passed by.  It had been covering a sporting event in Miami.  My mind made the connection between it and the space shuttle; thus, the poem.

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