“Shadow Dance/Island” by Kim Whysall-Hammond
Overjoyed at finding cataclysms in the twanging of space time,
we developed our detections, until,
just as deep ploughing uncovers treasures, fragments of pots,
burnt edges speaking of conflagration, terror, loss, pain and fear,
so the answer to Drake was revealed.
Submerged in the resonances of interlinked particles,
echoed in the reflectivities of distant nebulae,
modulated upon quivers in the fabric of the dark,
there to hear when finally able,
lay the death cries of innumerable neighbours.
Sounds disentangled, smoothed, brought into our hearing range
broadcast to a world keen for hope, for reasons to strive.
All those blossomings of sentience,
seeking knowledge, hoping for company.
Gone into the night.
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Kim Whysall-Hammond is a Londoner currently living somewhere in Southern England. Her speculative poetry has been published by On Spec, Time and Space Magazine, Star*Line, Andromeda Spaceways, The Future Fire, Utopia Science Fiction, Frozen Wavelets, Crannóg and others. She has two poems in the upcoming Dead of Winter anthology from Milk and Cake Press. |