Why aren’t there more poems about rockets? I think of the shuttle crew up there repairing the Hubble Space Telescope right this minute. How amazing that is for the child of a rocket engineer in the 1950s. My dad spent most of his career just trying to create a rocket that could make it past the atmosphere. My father called home to his family on the world’s first — FIRST! — satellite-bounced phone call (it didn’t go through – network has always been the problem).
I wonder why there are almost no poems about space. Even my favorite science poet, Pattiann Rogers, has never written one that I know of. If anyone knows of a poem about space or missiles or satellites, please send it.
Of course, there is Gregory Corso’s immortal:
Poem Rocket
Be a star-screwer!
Sent to Allen Ginsberg.
Doesn’t quite do it for me.