better to die anywhere but here—
trapped in Spaceship Earth’s ancient history,
scenes of antiquity re-enacted by mannequins
animated by buzzing gears, hidden speakers—
our cart (or spaceship, whatever you want to call it)
freezes constantly—first at the Ice Age, then at the Egyptians
pounding papyrus, now a third time
at the sweet, smoky aroma of the Alexandrian Library
burning to ashes of lost history
it’s terrible to imagine
our ride could end here, forever,
and I and five others in this
late-night Epcot crowd could starve to death
or miss our medications because of this,
Disney World’s most underwhelming attraction—
this time-traveling spaceship,
the geodesic nightmare
we’re forced to endure
sooner or later, if we continue wading
through denial, we won’t have a planet—
no hope of restarting the engines
or reviving the animatronics
if the Alexandrian Library had been rigged
with speakers reading aloud each ancient scroll, each truth
the emperors ignored—would the people have listened?
our spaceship jolts to life again
where have you gone, Alexandria?
wherefore art thou, forgotten Ice Age?
—Daisy F.O. (not her real name) is an independent filmmaker who got into writing last year. Her work has appeared in Jokes Review and Warp 10 Lit and she likes to eat her Lucky Charms with ice cubes. She doesn’t use social media anymore, so don’t bother trying to uncover her true identity.
Warp 10 