Sky Lanterns

Prismatic invertebrates, buoyed 
and pursed by disparities
in pressure. Not at first – 
their papery skin comes 
folded, must be unrolled 
carefully as gold-leaf. 
A zeppelin hamper hangs 
beneath, its waxy biscuit 
with protruding wick a bead 
of dew in the mandibles 
of some bulbous bug. One touch 
of flame, the cell engorges, 
an artery filling with heat. 
Silent as a Man-o-War, it rises 
with uncanny velocity, 
radiant as stained glass, 
into the solstice night; 
joins its migrating swarm 
of glow-worms, haloed 
in diffuse light. A helicopter

pilot, a soldier on the lookout 
tower at Norton Barracks, 
one startled milkman, rush 
and fumble mobile cameras; 
next day, grainy footage purports 
a vanguard fleet of spacefarers, 
posted to the website of The Sun.

 
 
 
 
 
{Audio}

This poem was first published in The Centrifugal Eye several years ago, and recently reappeared as part of their 5th Aniversary Anthology, available in perfect bound print from Lulu and Amazon.