Telescope

Hi All,

My poem “Telescope” (a limerick, actually, inspired by a quote from Alice in Wonderland) was just published in the latest issue of NewMyths. In the same issue, they also included from their archives my poem “The Yellow Snake,” inspired by the snake in The Little Prince. You can read both of them here:

https://sites.google.com/newmyths.com/newmyths-com-issue-72/issue-72-stories/telescope

https://sites.google.com/newmyths.com/newmythscomarchive/poems/the-yellow-snake

You can also read below a Spotlight from NewMyths about these poems and what led me to write them:

The poetic pick from our archives is from Issue 49, December 2020. We asked Gene to give us a little insight into the poem and, because this current issue includes his poem  “Telescope,” to talk about what led him to write poems based on these two literary classics.

 I’m an incurable bibliophile and my library shelves are filled with classics of sci-fi & fantasy as well as other genres. They are called classics for a reason, mainly because they illustrate notable standards of excellence for all time. The only books I own these days are those that I will reread multiple times. And each time I revisit the book, there’s always going to be stuff I’ve forgotten or some new little thing I missed completely the first time. It almost seems like I’m experiencing the book for the first time (one of the few benefits of growing older, I guess). And quite often there will be something that will inspire a new poem. The Little Prince is one of those stories that gets better and better with each rereading.

One of the things readers will notice about my poem “The Yellow Snake” is that the ending challenges the prevailing narrative about what really happened to the Little Prince. The assumption is that the snake actually bit and killed him. But I always found the ending somewhat ambiguous, only hinting that the snake actually bit him. And Saint-Exupéry has the pilot admit that the Little Prince’s body was never found. It was like the author was messing a bit with the heads of his readers. So I decided to mess a little with what actually happened and not have the snake bite him. I focused instead on how the pilot and the snake told each other a story. And the Little Prince’s story was so powerful that it transported him all the way home to his beloved planetoid and one silly rose. In a very real sense, a story can take us further than a ship, to paraphrase the author.

This story also appeared in my collection of sci-fi & fantasy poems, What the Gargoyle Sees, published by Kelsay Books (https://kelsaybooks.com/products/what-the-gargoyle-sees).

Also available at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/What-Gargoyle-Sees-Gene-Twaronite/dp/1952326869)

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