Walttriznastories's Blog

that’s the old folks’ porch
they would sit and reminisce
’bout their youth love and
lifelong friends who’ve passed away
i’ve saved you a seat let’s talk

war’s shallow adages
fill political discourse
the real question is 
how do you politely talk
about cold blooded murder

Which books/covers/authors intrigue you? Which have you read? Disliked? Enjoyed?

1. The Escape Orbit (variant title: Open Prison), James White (1964)

From the back cover: “STRANDED ON A PLANET OF MONSTERS. When the survivors of the his starship were taken prisoner by the insec-creatures against whom Earth had fought a bitter war for nearly a century, Sector Marshal Warren expected to be impounded in a prison camp like those the Earthmen maintained. But the “Bugs” had a simpler method of dealing with prisoners–they dumped them on an uninhabited planet, without weapons or tools, and left them to fend for themselves against the planet’s environment and strange monsters. A “Bug” spaceship orbited above, guarding them.

such small devilish things
like ticks on a camel’s back
clinging and swinging
no matter where i might go
there’s what-to-do reminders
and i swear they’ve been breeding

there’ll be no long prayers
barely time to toss ashes
into the night’s wind
there are no burial spaces
just missile and bomb craters
unfit for even the dead