February 1st – Circle in the Sky
12.36-12.46
The circles started appearing
one Wednesday afternoon.
Atmospheric phenomena,
they said on the news,
nothing to worry about.
Photos rolled in from across
the globe, all showing
the same thing: perfect
circles, a white outline
outlining clear space.
Jets were sent to intercept,
to pierce the ring, investigate
the empty space and the
bordering ring.
We can’t get close, the pilots
reported, in their languages,
scrambled and unscrambled:
We can see them, but they’re
always the same distance away.
Scientists went on TV
to talk about what they might
mean, speculating.
Conspiracy theorists theorised:
they’re spying on us, they claimed,
The Russians, Americans, Chinese.
The circles stayed exactly
where they first appeared.
Preachers preached from pulpits:
A sign from God, they exclaimed,
He’s testing our faith.
The Americans, believing in
a higher power, placed their faith
in long range missiles, and
launched them at the sky,
from an unspecified location,
live-streamed. The Russians
held back, watching, their
best men on the ground
at the launch site. The missiles
passed through, unimpeded.
The events were watched
from the ISS, orbiting its own
circles, 400 kilometres
above the ground. The circles,
even from above, stayed exactly
where they first appeared.
Exactly twenty-nine weeks
after that Wednesday afternoon,
the circles went, leaving
more questions than answers,
a number of cults, and a
testing of faiths. Small children
now draw circles in the sky.
Inspired by a prompt from here
[…] Prompted – https://promptedforten.wordpress.com/2019/02/07/feb-1st-circle-in-the-sky/ […]
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