Cities of the dead

by Michael D Nalley   Feb 16, 2009


As the old lady walked through the city of the dead,
she held the magic Mojo tightly, close to her head;
then she just wandered by the large Lovell tomb,
her mind was on a curse of destruction and doom.

She was jilted by the commander of Apollo thirteen
which bewitched her to revenge with thoughts obscene.
Her mission was to bring evil to the shot at the moon
and this lunatic would burn the damned doll very soon.

Before he reached the shadow of the moon, there is no dispute
that his ship would mysteriously explode some where on route.
The curse can only cast its shadow on this lowly spinning earth,
a bird soaring peacefully in the sky is an omen of rebirth.

When a soul feels mighty restless with a wish to roam,
the wisdom of the spirit tends to call it back home.
Though superstition may fill the foolish mind with dread,
we only remember the vessel in the cities of the dead

Yet it is not fiction that A radio transmission from Lovell on april 13 1970 during the mission, "Houston, we've had a problem" spawned the misquoted phrase in popular culture, "Houston, we have a problem".
In 1970 Valentines day followed a friday the thirteenth
The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in an 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini:
[Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring and affectionate friends; and if it be true that, like so many other Italians, he regarded Friday as an unlucky day, and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday, the 13th of November, he died.
Space Shuttle Launch Delayed Again for Fuel Valve Tests
By Tariq Malik
Senior Editor
posted: 13 February 2009
8:49 pm ET
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction

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Latest Comments

  • 14 years ago

    by Nicko

    Michael you never cease to amaze me. a great read...and the postscript just adds to the picture

  • 15 years ago

    by kelleyana

    Love the ending, great imagery and discreptive. Very well done5/5, kel.

  • 15 years ago

    by trippetta TC

    Wish I would have read this on friday the 13th, but as there are 3 this year I think I'll bookmark it to read next month!

  • 15 years ago

    by Austin

    This was very interesting. The topic was definitely a surprise, but I liked it. Not many other poets write like that on this site.

    The flow was nice, but the diction used was even better. If your diction was off, I don't think this poem would have been near as good, simply because of the topic.

    Also the information at the end was nice. Pretty cool to have some an idea that puts it all together.

  • 15 years ago

    by Courageous Dreamer

    Quite the impressive piece here.. thank you for the description at the end it really makes more sense after reading that. Your rhyming was flawless, and everything just connected very well together, youve penned a great piece here. Well done!

    5/5.

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