1987A
by Tim Jones
The
washing line
divides the back porch from the Milky Way.
Beaming down from Doradus
supernova 1987A.
Here in the porch
Dad and I
his telescope
and winter stroking the air.
From the Large Magellanic Cloud
to our backyard
it grabs the eye
this cosmic firestarter.
Photons hit receptors. Capillaries
draw iron towards the heart.
Metal contracts.
I shiver.
Dad has never
felt the cold.
Copyright © 2006, Tim Jones
Image Credit: Copyright © 2005, Nathan Nelson, some rights reserved
Tim Jones lives in Wellington, New Zealand. He divides his time between writing, being a husband and father, and content management work. His first collection of fiction, Extreme Weather Events, was published in 2001, and poetry collection Boat People followed in 2002. With Mark Pirie, he is currently editing an anthology of New Zealand science fiction poetry. To find out more about Tim's writing, please visit his website.