Sea Of Tranquility
by Patrick Chapman
He came home from the party.
In his pocket was the satin star
He'd plucked from decorations.
He woke his daughter, not yet four years old.
He took her, drowsing, out into the road.
He pointed at the sky: the gap
Between Orion's shoulder blades.
"You see that space above the clouds?
I got a great long ladder, laid
The top rung on the moon,
And caught this star that now I give to you."
Copyright © 1997, Patrick Chapman
Orion
Patrick Chapman was born in Ireland in 1968. His collections of poetry include Jazztown (Raven, 1991), The New Pornography (Salmon, 1996) and Touchpaper Star (Lapwing, 2004). In 2003, his story, "A Ghost", won first prize in the story category of the Cinescape Genre Literary Competition. Burning The Bed, his first film script, adapted from his own short story, was directed in 2003 by Denis McArdle. It stars Gina McKee and Aidan Gillen.