October Sky

The teacher dies having made her small contribution

to the colonization of other planets by motivating

a boy who would otherwise be a coal miner to become

a rocket engineer.

                           Throughout the nation teachers

are sending their prize pupils through the funnel

flask to produce technology from pure science.

The mother and father are good, disciplined, god-

fearing people who stand firm against dissolution

and chaos. They hold their clod of soil in place

and others do the same to create the landscape

of community.

                     Communities across the nation

and the world produce the many to support the few

who make the tools and do the math to colonize

the planets. Once the secret of warp speed is

discovered, expansion of the species is

limitless.

             Perhaps learning Sidewinder, playing it

imperfectly, is not a direct contribution to destiny.

What can I say. Please yourself. So

insignificant no one notices or cares. Yet

some stories may be told for centuries. Homer,

Shakespeare, Bible.

                            It takes constantly renewed

consciousness to persevere, retell the stories and

interpret lessons. You go, girl.