The following poem was first published in the Summer 2024 edition of Altered Reality Magazine. It’s about a Venusian girl who longs to go to space and visit Earth. The poem follows her life as she struggles to complete this goal while the planet is plagued with the runaway greenhouse effect. Since Venus’s day is longer than its year, the girl’s age is measured in days. The poem takes place hundreds of millions, if not billions, of years ago.

1 Day Old

A baby loved and doted on

mountains rise above the water

Sunhawks chase while teavers yawn

as this blue babe begins to totter

But the air is growing hotter,

shifting clouds of orange and tan

The scarlet sky calls to this daughter

reaching up her hand

8 Days Old

The news across the aerovision:

“The Wights have flown their whirling disc!”

In the face of mocking derision

it rises above the stifling mist

But to her parents this girl insists,

“I will one day fly these skies.”

Such ideas have weight and risk

to such weathered eyes

13 Days Old

With her telescope she sees

a planet painted purple and red

The Pritchett enters space with ease

as dreams of orbits flood her head

But the planet’s blue instead,

covered with continents of green

This mismatch brings a sudden dread

to this starstruck teen

19 Days Old

She writes on a desk of marble

in the hall of cosmic school

Over diagrams of stars she marvels

this knowledge her ambition fuels

But she stays inside—it’s cool

for the rivers are nearly boiling

A passing pattern plain and cruel

cannot stop her toiling

26 Days Old

Now she sits upon the launchpad,

watching numbers counting down

The latest spacesuit snugly clad

and helmet fitted to her crown

But smiles turn to frantic frowns

as the mission is aborted

Clouds too thick and dingy brown

smear the skies distorted

37 Days Old

Her telescope no longer sees

the sun, the stars, her destination

The planet with the water, trees

and the hope of new creation

But she still believes her nation

can resurrect the disc anew

Counteract the fear, frustration

and reach the distant blue

54 Days Old

The days are truly, exceptionally hot

society long torn asunder

by the torment weather wrought

atmosphere thick with thunder

But she’ll finally fix their blunder

The stolen disc breaks through the veil

into space, and oh! What wonder!

Begin the long exhale

Planet three in view,

her flight is true

Everything she thought she knew

can’t compare to

that endless blue

She hurtles through

air fresh and new

and bids ado

to hellish hues