Flight Path
written by: Linda Marie Hilton
Baseballs are perfect in their own right,
The seams stitched in a specific pattern.
If even a smidgeon off, the ball’s path
Might incur an umpire’s wrath.
Even the slightest tear
From ordinary wear
Will make the pitch foul, not fair.
So our home, Earth,
Is a ball hurtling through space
On its axis it rotates
With a funky little wobble
So turning it orbits around the sun
Longing to fly off on its own
But bound by the sun’s mass
Generated gravity.
So the sun sails through space.
In a path we know exists
But we are inside
We would have to be without
To observe the path.
Perhaps the universe too is in motion,
As we can tell it is expanding
But what into?
All this motion, how to keep steady
What if Earth hits an anomalous eddy?
What if we encounter a black hole
Only ten yards across
Do we wobble?
What kind of gyroscope are we doomed to be?
We have our satellites fire their rockets
To adjust their orbits, maybe up or down,
Or more east or more west
Without thinking we have imitated
Earth: volcanoes are boosters,
Adjusting our orbits, maintaining our paths.
Forcing our students to spend more time on maths.
The ocean is deep, the ocean is wide.
It grinds and whines, and then sand abides
Wherever the ocean carries it.
Water fast is so grainy, water slow a silt dumper
Water is the master carver
Whittling away at tough stones
Carving caves for creatures’ homes.
The surface changes shape,
Our wobble becomes pronounced
Earth fires its boosters
Lava imitates ocean waves,
The earth creates itself anew.
- Flight Path - July 21, 2026
- A Winter Walk - February 12, 2026
- Veiled - October 26, 2025
