Silent sea by Rachael Boast

We were the first that ever burstInto that silent sea- ST Coleridge

Another vessel sheds the chromeof its silver mile until a milemeanders into three, triples again

over the reef. Nothing can breatheunder oil, nor register thatdark membrane’s slick

over sight. We were the firstcracking the hull of the earthopen, our foolish husbandry

a metallurgy that’s brimmedwith false gold too oftenwe can talk, and talk, and talk

but a ship in space, mannedby non-thinking from non-feeling,says absolutely nothing at all.