POEM

Atmosphere

by A. V. Christie

The canals of Mars
beseech various oxides, vast
dust storms
of a dulled red,
a daytime warmth
that only reaches so far.

Let’s call these fissures canals
so we’ll think of Venice
looking through our telescope
as Mars comes this close

in this our anniversary year
with its thin atmosphere
and, to be probed,
its extreme cold.

This poem originally appeared in the October 2009 issue of Poetry.

October 2009 issue of Poetry Magazine

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 A. V. Christie

A.V. Christie is the author of Nine Skies (University of Illinois Press, 1997), which won . . . MORE »

More Poems by A. V. Christie

Foreword

The Hen Swallows a Worm or Slug

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