(x = space)

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We Land

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It is the first

There is a special on TV

Three weeks from now

We land

We land

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Let’s see

I was twelve

So much I didn’t know

But I was watching

Listening

Technical language

About pitch

And descent

Then dust kicked up

Then landed

I don’t remember Cronkite’s

Reaction

I’ve seen it since

Maybe my parents preferred

Another network

But they were down

Tranquility Base

There had been no base

They were the base

They were on

The moon

Armstrong and Aldrin

While Collins flew above

Waiting for retrieval

And then for the ship

To take them back home

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That’s where we were

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Armstrong got out

Kept talking

So we knew

He was alive

He descended

Left the ladder

Touched upon

The world

Near our world

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One small step for (a) man

One giant leap for mankind

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When they left

There was a plaque

About accomplishment

And peace

Signed by Nixon

A phantom pledge fulfilled

Since no one

Specifically had asked

Though Kennedy

Had said

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The space race gave us

Microwaves

Ballpoint pens

And Tang

So there was usefulness

And whatever to be said

In winning

At least

Our saying

That we won

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I thought we’d keep going back

I thought there’s be a base

With walls and windows

A round roof

And lots

And lots

Of oxygen inside

I guess that is about to happen

Now

And we’ll find out

If we disturb

The empire inside

That H. G. Wells

Fictively

Foretold

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Or Clarke’s sentinel

Or maybe there shall be

A little

Prince

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1969

We also went

To Woodstock

We protested war

All the contention of

My older brothers’ generation

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C L Couch

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Photo by Guzmán Barquín on Unsplash

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