Ring of fire,
Displacing up high in the sky,
And I go on to ask,
What is it and why?

Some call it God's miracle,
Authorities declare it a weather balloon,
But deep down my heart goes into lagoon.

I keep on to question it,
Are their alien being inside of it.

My mind disagree to what they say,
I very well know it's the UFO on the way.

Came to life as an alien,
And my skin palette is broader
try and hold me down while I'm breaking the border
Trumping over these walls, call me a dreamer

Green forests
Dark places
Romance and lies
I'm sorry that I came to this alien planet
I don't belong here
My heart belongs
To dry grass
And smoky summers
Not this green
Rain filled place
That only sees the sun
In the last three days of summer
I'm sorry that I don't belong on this alien planet with you
The darkness envelops me
Trapping me in a hazy greyish blue fog
I am pushing away the tendrils
Of murky gloom
That find me when I am running after you
I don't belong to this alien planet
That is only seen through the dark green trees
Follow the river of my mind
Into the cascading waterfall
The cliff that follows the Divide
I am sick and twisted
But not in the right way
I am sorry that I cannot stay
On this alien planet
A world so blue

I am upside down
Tossed this way and that
I am twisting with the beat
Of this song that is life
I am a dancer
That picks up on the winds of time
Follow the path
That leads to your demise
Welcome the alien planet
Where skies are a dull grey
The land is dark green
And cloud cover is constant
Where the mist of time
Takes over your mind
Welcome to the Alien Planet
This is where you reside

Enigma
by Michael R. Burch

for Beth

O, terrible angel,
bright lover and avenger,
full of whimsical light
and vile anger;
wild stranger,
seeking the solace of night,
or the danger;
pale foreigner,
alien to man, or savior.

Who are you,
seeking consolation and passion
in the same breath,
screaming for pleasure, bereft
of all articles of faith,
finding life
harsher than death?

Grieving angel,
giving more than taking,
how lucky the man
who has found in your love,
this—our reclamation;
fallen wren,
you must strive to fly
though your heart is shaken;
weary pilgrim,
you must not give up
though your feet are aching;
lonely child,
lie here still in my arms;
you must soon be waking.

Published by mojo risin’ magazine and in the poetry collection O, Terrible Angel. Keywords/Tags: Enigma, human, angel, paradox, light, dark, alien, savior, faith, passion, pilgrim, child

Alien Nation
by Michael R. Burch

for J. S. S., a "Christian" poet

On a lonely outpost on Mars
the astronaut practices “speech”
as alien to primates below
as mute stars winking high, out of reach.

And his words fall as bright and as chill
as ice crystals on Kilimanjaro —
far colder than Jesus’s words
over the “fortunate” sparrow.

And I understand how gentle Emily
felt, when all comfort had flown,
gazing into those inhuman eyes,
feeling zero at the bone.

Oh, how can I grok his arctic thought?
For if he is human, I am not.

Note: The coinage “grok” appears in Robert Heinlein’s classic sci-fi novel "Stranger in a Strange Land." The novel’s protagonist, Valentine Michael Smith, was raised on Mars by enlightened Martians, and he often feels out of sorts on Earth, where he struggles to grok (understand deeply and profoundly) earthlings and their primitive, often inhuman, ways. Keywords/Tags: Mars, astronaut, alien, primates, stars, words, ice, crystals, Jesus, sparrow, Emily, Dickinson, zero, bone, arctic, thought, human, inhuman

Oops all of a sudden we are shunning to come out
though our bird by design laughs all the way to Mars.
We don't want to because of a coronavirus bug
but it isn't an alien came out from the far
the monster broke out from our very thin air!

Come, see our space bird the spacecraft
hops up on to the solar world like a breeze
as if flying one tree to the other tree.
Hang on its yet to sing the story
from our epic album of technology.

As it crosses the trap the Van Allen Belt
it goes through like a seasoned pro
and blinds the moon on the first go!
Oh amazing what it sees on the next mo
a man-made bird in Mars landed its foot.

Our space bird spreads the wings
far from the Moon from the Jupiter
tweeting from our science pages at par
from the planet after planet raising the bar.

But now all stay home it's risky to walk far
perhaps we forgot the unseen hole is deeper
what's lurking nearby then the black hole afar.
Where the moon lits candlelight isn't by the stars
far from venus over the sea is closer to us!

Fingers dipped in purple powders
Fushia gold my makeup
Black skintight latex suit with neon circles
How my outfit is made up

Three rings around my waist
Intersecting, two vertical, one on the horizon
The circles glow with noble gases
Radioactive, after all, I'm an alien

Perfect spheres and concentric rings
Are trending, so I have read
I balance on stacked circles, my six inch latex heels
And floating circles surround the pair of buns on my head

My bones poke through my latex,
Anorexia won't stop my passions
I may not be the body type you want, but I'm the body type you have
And I still enjoy the fashions