Reentry Poems | Examples

Languid Love and Lovers

    sophistry blends with artistry
       woos the languid lover

    afterward, ‘pon reentry
        devilish charms uncovered

November Sky

We stood at the edge
of the back yard,
next to the garage—
where I’d pretended to be
an astronaut in a
cardboard spaceship—
on a chill November night,
watching Sputnik II
arc across the sky.

I didn’t know why
he was rarely home—
or why it wasn’t always
like this when he was:
quiet,
steady,
present.
All I knew was the stars were out,
and he was beside me—
and Laika was aboard.

I didn’t know then
she had no way back—
no reentry plan,
no soft descent.
I pictured her peering
through a tiny window,
tongue lolling,
stars reflected in her eyes.
I thought
someone would bring her home.

Now I know
she died within hours—
heat and panic rising
in that cramped metal cradle
while I, warm in my pajamas,
believed in science,
believed in rescue,
believed in my father’s voice
saying, Look, there she goes.

At least they finally gave
her a monument
in Moscow.

New Moon Laughing

The moon unquestioned 
has no answers
Between light’s reflection
the coming dawn

One promise chosen
to fill the darkness
One promise chosen
to calm the storm

As planets rally
the moon abandoned
The time for reason
has come and gone

They spin their orbits
and claim reentry
New eyes upon them
new axis spawned

Rotating freely
in pinball madness
Colliding passions
of night’s retreat

A new moon laughing
the death of order
A new moon waiting
— as shadows sleep

(Dreamsleep: March, 2025)

Two Hundred Thousand Feet

One first flight, Columbia’s name.
Seven souls aboard, bound for fame.

Six days, then ten, experiments thrive,
Eighty hearts of science, dreams alive.

Sixteen days, the Earth they skim,
Reentry calls—light fades dim.

Tick-tick, hiss-hiss, crack-crack—a sound,
A breach unseen, the heat unwound.

1.67 pounds, a foam unseen,
Pierced the wing, unstitched the dream.

40 miles high, the flames collide,
Mach eighteen, as heat did stride.

Mach fifteen—a fiery scream,
The air ignites, the fragile seams.

Seven names, carved deep in space,
Their sacrifice, a lasting grace.

At 9:00 a.m., a nation cried,
29 months, the fleet must bide.

Tick-tick, sigh-sigh, hush-hush—we wait.
Columbia’s legacy will navigate.

Eighty dreams and the minds they fed,
We honor the fallen, their voices not dead.

my dreams make life pale

My dreams make life pale
I am more alive
My surroundings more vivid
I would relish dreaming forever

There are colors I cannot describe
For they are unknown on earth
Am I in heaven?
Would it be arrogant to say yes?

I land back in my body with a loud whomp
Hitting my chest at a hundred miles an hour
My eyes open and my heart beats wildly
My hands are shaking

Reentry is always scarier than real life
Is it sad that I want to spend the rest of my life
Dreaming rather than living?

Quantum math

The boomeranging echo
deafening to receive
retro rockets smoking with the effort to retrieve

What dignity affords

Approaching the singularity 
Where mathematics misbehave
Infinitely distorted space and time discovers I am brave

For this the final frontiers inimitable calling to me softly astral plane

Rosie the robot
Taking on a life of her own
Worlds beyond comprehensive control boweavil seeking her home

54321 Houston we have lift off
Winging through the atmosphere this star dust studded loam

Made for growth this rootless vine ideal it seams to roam


Nomadic maiden trying to ignite fire with sodden sticks
In a van down at the river
Still up to your old tricks

This hardwired struggle release

Return oh Viking warrioress
You won this fight at birth
Now sail with pride this prairie schooner when you return in peace

Rest my sweet Rest
For you are lightyears or a softly spoken word away

Prepare for your reentry
        at last     
Your coming home

First Baby In Space

Born on the moon
one sixth of earth’s gravity
Reentry approaching
would your skeleton hold

Bones forming soft
g-forces awaiting
To welcome you home
—or break the new mould

(Listening To Mindscape: November, 2023)

True North

Feigning reentry
from places I’ve wandered
Destiny challenged
the status-quo damns 

Feigning reentry
from freedom unhindered 
Life but a journey
its trappings to ban

Feigning reentry
its price was my freedom
The given agenda
new death to the dream

Feigning reentry
refusal my mantra
Staying in transit
—new rivers unstreamed 

(The New Room: March, 2023)

Exit Only

Thoughts once spoken
the bottle open
Genie tenured
—reentry closed

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

D8a Sum

Reentry...481



I am the ancient 

All of Them

having left all of you

each one of them,

7 ol' Kin...

came to Rumi within

and so now

we are all one again

Itz a 

;D8a sum day

Astral Travel

Zephyr takes my soul east
She goes without comment
Understanding her ultimate destination
Knowing it was predetermined
Before this incarnation

My body lifts and lowers in melodic rhythm
We are unconcerned, it is mere flesh.
She slumbers peacefully on the bed.
Nightly REM activity continuing 
As active as in my babyhood

One day Zephyr will bring my soul home
I will feel beloved and respected
Not a final journey for my spirit self
Rather a resting place in between incarnations
My flesh self gasps loudly; I was too harsh on reentry

Escaping My Body Every Night

I am not body lingering at night
My husband says "you are never there"
I agree, for I am gone. 
When I hit the body so hard that I wake up shuddering and shaking
Why I do not slow the soul down prior to reentry
I do not know
I suspect it has something to do with my lack of patience
And my child-like self

Purpose

Purpose

If we examine now
What we are doing
And find we are not free..
We must then 
Put the doing aside
Perhaps only briefly
And be the observer
Of the doing..
Then the observer
Absorbs the doing..
No observer..No doing
Just what is happening.. 
And we notice freedom
Making reentry...

Living On the Surface

Living on the surface,
  dinner’s always served at eight

Living on the surface,
  pride forever casts your fate

Living on the surface,
  things always seem just fine

Living on the surface,
  plays an endless pantomime

Living on the surface,
  the church contains your soul

Living on the surface,
  your religion swallowed whole

Living on the surface,
  things never change that much

Living on the surface,
  you can only look, not touch

Living on the surface,
  the wheel only spins one way

Living on the surface,
  each spoke a mortgage pays

Living on the surface,
  love professes in a vow

Living on the surface,
  real commitment not allowed

Living on the surface,
  new doors stay locked and shut

Living on the surface,
  your reentry self-destructs

Living on the surface,
  your reflection flat and clean

While just below the surface
  —beats the heart of what things mean

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)

Shared Dreams

Shared dreams
A mystical anomaly
Or heavenly known?

Nightly slumber
Un-replicated, 
Refreshingly mysterious

Star journey
Shaky landing 
Upon reentry

Shared dreams
Blissfully unaware
Goals known

Astral travels
Reviving soul
Nightly

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