Hyper-Jump Blues
By J.S. Watts
This is a wry one
a dry one
a fly one.
Words rush by
with no time to try one.
Like Star Wars. Like warp speed.
Like a stellar-gate crash.
Like War of the Words
and them words gotta dash.
There once was a purpose
but that’s not what you need
when you’re caught in the slip-stream
of a hyper-jump dream
and now I don’t know
if this word trip is real
or mind-melt
or drug fuelled
or psych-ward bad deal
or this star-blitz is maybe
the last thing I’ll feel
because stuck in transit
in a jump between places
your brain is spread out
and as star-high as space is.
That moon’s a balloon
and as likely to pop
and I just need this light-rushing
sense-blast to stop
and slow down and settle
the sickness to pass
so I can work out
that my head’s not my arse
that we’ve arrived wherever
this space ship was headed
that I’m still alive,
not inadvertently deaded,
that the mind-squeeze was worth it
and my ears will stop popping
leaving me time to go earth-side
for my inter-space shopping.
J.S.Watts is a British writer. Her poetry, short stories and book reviews appear in a wide variety of publications in Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the States and have been broadcast on BBC and Independent Radio. J.S. is the author of five books. Her poetry collections, Cats and Other Myths and Years Ago You Coloured Me, plus a multi-award nominated SF poetry pamphlet, Songs of Steelyard Sue are published by Lapwing Publications. Her novels, A Darker Moon – dark, psychological fantasy and Witchlight, a paranormal tale, are published by Vagabondage Press. For further details see: www.jswatts.co.uk
