20 May 2025
turbulence
sky clear yes we could fly now
and medicine could cure how many people
tested in twelve months
follow them from square to square
echolocate them in underwater car parks
while they focus on audio divisible
drama not
the system crush while spectacle’s a substitute for thought and twenty-three balloons each far away the derelicts land superdiffused spreadeagled like after too much
(dismantlement)
(down the chute and don’t come up)
(no air in space)
(we own our debt our debt owns us)
no nonce cure, none, it is endemic
to our condition fringe dwellers
in a fiery forest
it could help
to pay attention to what’s hidden
but not conspired!
not conspiratorial in a haemoglobin sense!
a rubber sphere
filled with hydrogen
aeronauts beneath
into the pure parisian sky
they rise as one
a beautiful day in 1908
then a shit storm night
in
abandon
weatherish smorgasbord wind chafing sails of night
motherish terror
abandoned
calculations
trickling sand
though the prize is
for the greatest straight line distance travelled before
landfall
skill plus daring plus the rubber duckie effect the friendly floaties randomly diffused by currents of air and théodore schaeck and emil messner in the balloon helvetian land 73 hours later in what is now ukraine oh and a large basket for comfort plus an extra-long trail rope to aid in balancing the balloon
currents
eddies
gusts
shocks
fair winds
then finally running out of altitude
villagers call them in the night
come down before you reach the sea