IO (Poem)

(Dedicated to Jeffrey Warner)

launched September 5, 1977,

VOYAGER ONE SPED TOWARDS JUPITER

TO PERFORM SOPHISTICATED STUDIES

OF AN ALMOST STAR,

and also take pictures of some satellites.

AFTER ALL, WHAT DID ONE EXPECT?

WHAT COULD ONE EXPECT

of humble satellites in planetary orb?

JUST SOME MORE BATTERED OBJECTS

LIKE MOON AND MERCURY?

DEAD EXCEPT FOR TIDAL CREAKING;

POCKED BY METEORITE BLASTS?

but no.

IN THE TENTH YEAR AFTER APOLLO ELEVEN,

VOYAGER ONE PICTURED THE BODY IO

with a multitude of spectacular fountains

of volcanic debris

HURTLING A HUNDRED KILOMETERS

ABOVE A SEA

OF PIZZA COLORED VOLCANIC EJECTA.

what did you expect?

1979

(Reprinted from Meteoritics, v. 15, 1980, p. 252.)