Monday, June 14, 2010

Even before it was visible

its brutal eagerness
made the unsuspecting earth shiver as
it cut through the ground's layers
like a thug carving open a mark.
It burst through the surface throwing
dense, thick wads of glutinous muck in all directions,
its metallic body spinning as it extended twenty
huge unfolding mechanical arms from its central drill.
A death camp sized searchlight emerged
from its top, rotating as if scanning
for escapees slated to be shoveled
directly into the oven.
A deep, iron-voiced roar emerged from its unseen throat,
and as it rotated its arms flung bricks of sharpened steel
with decapitating velocity.
Everyone else trembled in uncomprehending
terror,
clinging to the wounded ground in panting desperation,
but he stood upright and walked in wonderment
right toward it, the projectiles cracking
by his ears delightfully, the light sweeping over him
in movie-premiere glory,
the deafening roar his sit-com theme music.
He smiled as he wondered whether it would
first caress his head or snuggle in his midsection,
laughing at the delicious moment that was carried
on the freezing night air.