8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

1/19

UFO Songs

(Alien Hymns)

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

2/19

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

3/19

The Leaf-Keyed Craft

Forest columns

Spray the skyWith rattling canopiesThat make the leaf-rings echoIn the heat bubblesOf the air.

The leaf-keyed ringsHover overhead.The oak sprayNever reaches them,But fountains endlesslyAs the forest stands.

The golden rings,Blurred with haze,Slowly moveToward the hillsTo land.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

4/19

The Hare

Owl snowballs,In search of a limping hare,Orbited a frozen hill,But the hare crept inside the hillAnd died from its wounds-

Orbiting white angelsTook its spiritTo a tranquil glenWhere, instead of hawks and wolves,Puppies chased it about;

Where bees tended its gardenAnd cherubs kept its home:But the hare never noticed,It wept alone.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

5/19

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

6/19

The Silver Sphere

Silver sand stretched endlessly,Enough to make a sphereWith a one mile radiusWhen piled up and melted down.

Magma-air rose endlesslyFrom the scalding sands,Enough to buoy the sphereAnd float it around the earth.

Fireflies glimmered endlesslyEnough to be the lampsOf an elfin cityShadowed by the passing sphere.

Oceans glowed beneath the sphere-Beguiled fish in processionFollowed the slow radianceUntil it reached the shore.

Then billowing woodland tractsTinted the silver sphereWith an autumn flourishWhile the sun blushed it red.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

7/19

Snow Capped Mountains

Oh, Snow-Capped Mountain,From the earths snapped foundation;Spear, hurled by the warriorIn the worlds coreThrough the air-earthAnd into the breast of the sky!Resume your trajectorySo that I may mount you and fly.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

8/19

The Concealed Dearth

The circling scout craftDrop suddenlyWhen they seeA rare mink-

Snagging it inTalonsAnd dragging it offAnd away,Over wavy hillsAnd mysterious bogsTo a speckled glenWith a concealed dearth.

They drop suddenly again,Unclasp their talonsAnd release the minkTo inhabit the glen.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

9/19

Stellar Warrior

To my left, suspended droplets,To my right, orbiting pebbles-Translucent stillnessAnd tumbling gravel.

Yes my bow is strongAnd my rings are true,With their spectral ribbonsAnd mineral hue.

I fire my bowAnd toss my rings-The mist chantsAnd Saturn sings.

The rings flyWith such gyrations.The bow quiversIn every striation.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

10/19

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

11/19

The Two Hills

Weathered hill,You half-buried snowball dyed green,The frosted orb twirling aboveWaits for you.

Glacier-gouged hill,You half-buried emerald,The diamond twirling aboveCourts you.

Weathered hill,You frosted bulb tinted green,Who only glowsWhen the sun filters through mist,Join the ball of frost spinning overhead.

And glacier-gouged hill,You once half-buried diamond,But now emeraldBecause of a gardens tint,Join the beam-needled diamond whirring overhead.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

12/19

Brown Flecks

Brown flecksAre organized by the windAround the new devices:They are mans flecks,And they each, a small bit,Channel the immense forceOf the ruling handsThat spin odd gestures and designsTo drive the immense, energetic wind.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

13/19

Shifting Games

A blue slab,A yellow ballAnd a cloudPlay shifting games overhead

Turning fields from stadiums to tombsWhen the cloud covers the ball

Turning despair to hopeWhen the slab absorbs the cloud

The slab darkens at nightThe ball bounces over each dayBut the fractal cloud ensuresThat nothing will be the same.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

14/19

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

15/19

Fairy Spaceflight

Gallop, gallop, gallop straight across the landAs level as an arrow, flatter than the sand;

Then climb, climb, climb straight up the corded height,Into the silver sphere that journeys in the night;

Then arc, arc, arc around the misty earthTo intercept a queen and settle on her girth;

Then canter ever-canter across the gleaming moonA strong horse beneath, behind the frigid gloom

While far below the pixies await your coming back-Waiting for the planets to launch you with a whack,

To sail sail sail back to the world below,And after a gentle landing, to kiss the elfin meadow.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

16/19

The White Mug

The white mug flewOff the tableAnd fellInto the heavenlyFlecks of the floor,

Sharding the skyWith fragmented flowers,Orb-shell splinters,And modern sculptures.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

17/19

The Plum Tree

A plum tree dashes to 10,000 feetAnd flashes its fruit like a UFO,Like antiaircraft flak,Like bubbles popping,Then returns.

A tulip flits to 10,000 feetAnd fans its petals like a peacock,Spins like a pinwheel,Then returns.

The cherry blossom flits to 25,000 feet,Spark-showers its petals,Spins like a motor,Then returns.

Each tree takes a trip,Each shines queerly,Each returns.

Each creature finds a perchAnd follows closelyThe trees as they burn.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

18/19

Ticking

A fat guyAnd pillow stuffed studMust look for a bomb plantedTo blow the city up.

A flying go-cart they needAnd the Empire State LanceTo smote at a rushing spaceshipFaster than a glance.

8/14/2019 UFO Songs (Alien Hymns)

19/19

Paul Roe