Poetry for The Savages of Planet X
by Tpiqlat’ng Kragzluk
The savages are having hearings; it’s
a beer of brewed lies in a busy buzz
where they don’t hear very well.
I’m learning the buzz word “morgue.”
My wife, the anthropologist
taught me this English I’m
going to scream with twists
My wife was a pilot undone
on an anthropology expedition
Into disharmonious lands she crashed but
they hid the body bounty and the craft
like a squirrel creature hides nuts.
I wanted to look at her
one last time.
The savages were afraid.
This English is too limited
to explain extraterrestrial travel
I considered exterminating the planet
but the savages enjoy torturing each other
I suppose they’ll talk each other to death.
But I did want to look at her
one last time.
She is not as ugly
as they think, but
over the years
I think I’m becoming
as angry as the savages
and as ugly.
Poet Laureate of the Primitive Planets 