BY: JASPER HAZE

& so, it was as it always is
the beginning a little shaking
& the end an effervescence
before long no one talked about it
as they are trying to now
taking liberty by the lapels
one-part muddled mint
equal parts gin, shaken not stirred
a panatela between the fingers
observing the new world
a highly marketable machine
they are toyetic, but charms
like theirs come at a price
as much as a one-way ticket
to Mars, out of this town
out of this world, fast as light
temerarious heights, manifest destiny
they’re a go for launch, now or never
new frontier, finders keepers
a fuselage penetrating gravity
manspreading, breaking loose & free
conquistador, ahistorical, non-umbilical

Jasper Haze is an absurd logophile who lives in the Bay Area. He is an IT professional at Stanford University and holds an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. His work has appeared in the Cimarron Review, Barrow Street, Harpur Palate, and elsewhere.