Rundown on the earth:
by Oke Mbachu
-Rugged
ball in space,
swinging off the sun's rays,
captivated.
-Suspended live eye
unblinking,
blue-white pupil sucking in
much of the light.
-67,000 miles-an-hour driver
weaving in and out of the dark
spinning,
-Futile game of tag
among nine circling large rocks,
and smaller crumbs.
-A leashed dog
chasing its tail.
-Soul of rock, gut of fire,
the equator not too tight
around the waist.
-Third-closest offspring,
sweating it out for its luck.
-Olden person
shattered to drifting siblings.
-Meteorites have petered out, landing
massive cigarette burns
inside its thighs,
seismic waves scour the scene,
interrogate down the spine—
-Mass, in kilograms: 5.9742 × 10
to the 24th power.
-Tilt of its axis, in degrees: 23.45.
-Its orbital eccentricity: 0.0167.
-Temperature here, now: about sixty-
something degrees,
-Cloudy outlook, and vision; a chance of fog
dropping its veil
on this wandering eye making
fuzzy rounds,
waiting its turn for
an appointment out of sight
Copyright © 2008, Oke Mbachu
Image Credit: NASA
Oke Mbachu's poems and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Boxcar Poetry Review, Caveat Lector, Contemporary Rhyme, DMQ Review, Red River Review and elsewhere. He writes and works in Illinois.