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Ode to the M 21 Blackbird at the Seattle Museum of Flight

This is a love poem, an ode to the most beautiful type of plane in the world.

Ode to the M 21 Blackbird at the Seattle Museum of Flight.

aerodynamic air compressor
tri-sonic speed photographer
radar absorbing missile runner
black skinned sensor eluder
big boy’s toy
Blackbird
you are a design constructed on a slide rule
stealth measured over your surface inch by inch

transatlantic record holder
30 mile per minute traveler
territory penetrator
peaceful mission flyer
geography reader
revelator
your alacrity meant no harm
you flew unarmed, unseen

titanium alloy contorter
twin Wildcat beater
triethylborane burner
gelatinous fuel leaker
body expander
air breather
your heart becomes blue hot, red hot, white hot, transparent
your thrust can drive an ocean liner

presidential prestige giver
power pursuer
victory enabler
celestial stalker
status symbol
weapon
you flew ahead of a blue flame for 32 years
you exploded sound and vanished

dynamic pressure quantifier
split second decision maker
temperamental disintegrator
pilot error, pilot killer
pit viper
Habu
you did not fracture, crash and burn
you departed controlled flight

nostalgic warrior
museum treasure
silenced thunder
admired retiree
heart amputee
artefact
your intimacy opened, exposed, accepting
your gold-plated veins on display, caressed

dream the American boys
of gold suits glowing
hold their breath and dim the lights
navigate by the milky way
chase the shooting stars
and soar with you
into the blue
into the mach

Comments: 5

  • Muddy Kinzer

    May 8, 2012
    reply

    Great poem about a great plane housed at a great museum!

  • May 9, 2012
    reply

    Wow. Spectacular. I sent the link to my Ai Force brother-in-law. He will love it!

  • January 18, 2015
    reply

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