{"id":2261,"date":"2021-11-01T12:33:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T12:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?p=2261"},"modified":"2024-02-06T12:08:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T12:08:39","slug":"new-poems-the-moon-turned-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?p=2261","title":{"rendered":"The Moon Turned Dark: Dark Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Moon Turned Dark<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MOON TURNED DARK (LG Revised version)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 1783 a balloon of hot air made of paper is launched<\/p>\n\n\n\n

then a test of silk and hydrogen that travels 15 miles before crashing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

into the minds of two peasants who attack the monster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

despite the authorities appeal not to be scared of these globes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018which resemble the moon turned dark\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next a sheep, a cockerel, a duck are swung into orbit like Laika<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tethered to another hydrogen sphere to test the air at altitude<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They survive crashing back to earth and are examined by Pilatre de Rozier<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who in October 1783 becomes the first man to leave the earth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The blue and gold balloon rising in a shower of burning straw<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 7th January 1785 and Blanchard and Jefferies attempt the first sea crossing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

leaving Dover they head for Calais rising and falling dangerously<\/p>\n\n\n\n

all weighty objects jettisoned they finally threw their clothes into the sea<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and make landfall at Blanc-Nez where Blanchard throws letters into the wind<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the final weight they let go are bladders containing their own urine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13th June 1784 and Pilatre attempts the same journey in the opposite direction<\/p>\n\n\n\n

twenty-seven minutes later it is seen drifting back over land<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the two aeronauts observed frantically trying to keep the vessel aloft<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hydrogen ignites sending the two men to their deaths<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilatre leaves behind the first matches, gas masks and a museum of science<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13th June 2021 fires burn bright in the woods near Calais at night<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New journeys are planned and wind and sea watched for calmer nights<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eyes turn upwards at the leviathans in the channel the monsters in the air<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some cross easily others fall to earth or drift on currents back to land<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best nights are those when the moon turns dark and the fires are out<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We test the limits of our survival from Paris to Mars, seek safe harbour<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the straw burning under our feet both lifts us and destroys our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the blue and gold backdrop of the live television pictures two men<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dump what they can into the sea, pray that the fires will keep them afloat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can only see a moon turned dark, a sea turned black, a world on fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moon Turned Dark MOON TURNED DARK (LG Revised version) June 1783 a balloon of hot air made of paper is launched then a test of silk and hydrogen that travels 15 miles before crashing into the minds of two peasants who attack the monster despite the authorities appeal not to be scared of these globes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[115,56,107,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dark-weather","category-eco-writing","category-green-politics","category-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6nhh-At","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2261"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3036,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions\/3036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}