An Old Ghost

At this site: http://www.voicesnet.org/displayonepoem.aspx?poemid=75306

I wrote this poem when I was thirteen years old! For extra credit, to be precise. My homeroom teacher at the International School of Beijing, Mr. Pearson - a native of Wyoming who collected unused airsickness bags from various airlines - offered various slightly off-kilter assignments for those seeking additional points. The prompt was a quote by some astronomer, whose name I have long forgotten, but one I remember was female. She said, "When I look up at the night sky, all I see are whales and fishes." We were invited to make anything of that we wished.

For those uninterested in following the link, here is the text:

SWIM WITH THE STARS

Stars as whales
Stars as fishes
How is this possible?
How can you see it that way?
Look up at the night sky
Sparks swim
In the dark sea primeval
The edge of the Milky Way floats by
Like foam across the waves
A deep sense of longing
With an unknown cause
To fly with the stars
Swim through the abyss
Quiet hushed world
Like being underwater
Peering below
Instead of looking up
Our imagination connects the dots
Giving the patterns stories and lives
Awe like the awe of the sea
The sea and the sky
Both mysterious
Threatening in a way
Yet strangely comforting
We cannot go far to explore their secrets
Only dream and admire
Graze the surface of their world
Twinkling points of light
Clustering and spreading
Shoals and schools of stars
While the galaxies dip and spin
Graceful behemoths of the beyond
Like fish
Like whales

In an ocean as deep as Time

It's not exactly great literature, but it's not bad at all for age 13. In any case, I got a bucketful of points for it, my math teacher printed out a larger copy and stuck it on his wall for the rest of the year, and the school put it in the newsletter. It's weird to see it again, with 889 views, no less. A good weird.