THE WORLD ALL STOPPED TO WATCH IT

THE WORLD ALL STOPPED TO WATCH IT

by Norman Warwick

Lowering into lunar dust transmitting words intriguing in ambiguity of one small step for man becoming a giant leap for mankind in a phrase reverberating through time and space in search of indefinite particles making sense of senselessness dreamed whilst seeking sleep against whirring machinery and pattering micro-meteorites framing the unimaginable in phraseology uttering more volubly than a whispered recollection of a neighbouring housewife promising matrimonial oral sex only if man were ever to be seen walking on the moon in steps measured and calculated as that lunatic phrase against the cost of continued expenditure on distant conflict

in space technology creates spin-off not spin doctors reducing infinity in reverse through a telescope seeking to balance awe-inspiring technology against innocent disregard of creating a new frontier only because of base exigencies from years of territorial war so cold as to be thawed only by creating a civilian agency charged with keeping space out of military hands and plotting its course through celestial storms caused by Soviet satellite Sputnik orbiting every one and one half hours transmitting on a frequency intercepting signals raising and lowering garage doors passing overhead of states united in consternation and sputtering to misappropriate a word from another language commodifying and marketing everything from furniture to ice cream

for a president allaying his people’s fear and media cynicism parlaying concern and nascent fascination into a lunar programming simply for exploring planet earth from a distance setting space as a symbol of vision

held for millenniums by storytellers

of DreamWorks of children on a lunar landscape fishing off the end of the pier of crescent bay

sung of for centuries by troubadours and lonesome pickers

beseeching fly me to the moon to let me play among the stars

and forever painted by artists on a starry starry night

so Andy have you heard about this one

they put a man on the moon relaying pictures of the art of colonising drawing mis-cast shadow

little dogs laughing to see such fun and dishes running away with spoons and children on bicycles in black silhouette heading homeward

while the world all stopped to watch it on a July afternoon to see a man named Armstrong walking on the moon

with radio stations misunderstanding refusing to play questioning lyrics from the dark side of the moon to Aboriginals playing didgeridoos counting revolutions calculating song-lines to lead them to the sea of tranquillity 

in fascination boundless for sky’s harbinger of harvest this push me pull me of sea to shore controlling menstruation casting magnetic spell guiding sailors befriending hunters impelling killers

a prefix for shiners catchers walkers and rakers

and from the falls when moon is golden-full forming a moonbow light refracted through spray to be seen for miles and miles and miles through mosi-oa-tunya the most staggeringly beautiful natural phenomenon left on planet earth

and some nights when light is bleeding away moon’s familiar plate becomes undeniably a reddish-brown sphere instead of a whiter shade of pale inviting marvel at its new solidity as if when glare is cut the machine can be seen

eclipsing the epiphenal

in a moment of reflection

on those marvellous nights for a moon-dance

out somewhere in the universe watching Man named Adam walk upon an earth

good luck Mr. Gorsky

It might be just another few weeks before residents of the UK and some other European countries are able to return for a holiday to Lanzarote, or perhaps can decide to make their first holiday for a long time to be their first holiday here on the island. If and when those tourists fo arrive here they will receive a warm welcome, and not only because they represent a massive and disproportionate percentage of our earnings as an island as individuals. The welcome, though, will be a reflection of our pride in our island and how much pleasure we take in sharing it with those who love its rugged but lovely landscape, Sidetracks and Detours offer you an opportunity to spend a ´virtual´ week on Lanzarote to whet your appetite for when the travel industry returns to some normality,

Our free festival begins on Monday 26^th April 2021, and we will begin by introducing you to a Swedish couple who have made their life here on the island over the last forty years and will tell you all about The Lanzarote Iron Man. We will take you to the vertiginous cliff-tops where local islanders used to shimmy up and down to pluck berries that created a beautiful dye that for three centuries was a major trading item on the island. We will take you on a guided wak along our Northern coastline with its ancient wells and cindered volcano trails, and we will give you a glimpse of the meadows of wildflower that have been in such profusion this year. On the final day we will show you some of incredible theatre venues and introduce you to some of our finest musicians and bring our free virtual tour to an end in time for you to phone your travel agents and book the first available flight over here.