WWP 118: Thinking Outside of the Box

Thinking Outside of the Box
They were men with big dreams
They were the builders of things mechanical
Bolting joints, legs, sockets and circuit boards

In sealed lab rooms, perhaps climate controlled
Maybe even windowless - they followed the vision set before them
At the Grumman Iron Works in the 1960’s

They built Apollo LEM’s - one, some or all of them;
Lunar Excursion Modules - started out unmanned
And then in July 20, 1969 a man landed on the moon

Fathers, uncles, brothers, sons and grandfathers
I think the field was unintentionally mostly if not all men then
Tosterone and smoke jockeying for the light of day, during launches

And perhaps lunches too - celebrating creativity and ingenuity
Could they ever imagine that with the start of the space program
That Curiosity would land on Mars in August of 2012?

Process notes: One of my grandfathers’ helped to build several of the LEMs.
Somewhere in my home I have a line drawing or photo of one of the Apollo LEM’s
With signatures of everyone who helped to build it - including my grandfather.
This piece is to honor all those who helped the early United States space program,
about fifty years ago and since, yet only flew to space in their dreams.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module

We Write Poems 118