...
The wind,
bluer than souls,
makes stars of my teeth
as I ascend the milky stairway
to Mt. Sagittarius.
These steps,
never climbed before,
can only be climbed once,
for there is fire behind me
and a prison ahead.
I finally freeze,
at the point of greatest cold
and watch creation explode
from the nethermost peak
of Mt. Sagittarius.
END
...
James Machell is a British science fiction writer and poet. Some of his interviews have been with Ken Liu, Samuel R. Delany, and P. Djèlí Clark. He is also the contest chair for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, outreach manager for Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, and a contributor to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
YouTube | @fell-purpose
Poem originally published with: Star*Line