Pluto

Pluto
—for Track Palin

.
“When I awoke
a brand new planet
had been given a name”
—Carol Ann Duffy
“Pluto,” Mean Time

When I woke up—
A brand new country
Had been given a name
Alaska USA

This Home I’m in—
It didn’t wash my mouth
With soap—I was profane!!!
I thought Palin, Palin, Palin
Palin Planet, Northern World!!!

It was the Day, my dears—
When the Earth stood still and
I noticed things— Klaatu barada
Nikto was a weeping hourglass
Turning time back for me…

I was a Fisherman’s son again—
Swallowed by the Giant Whale
And when the whale regurgitated
Me onto the beach of Fairbanks
It was my father’s laugh I heard!!!

To think of the vast world—
Of Pacifica—another world in
The dark unreachable what
Of what it was like to be
Way down there deep
Alone in the belly of Time…