Tonight's Poet Corner: May Fourth

May Fourth
by Belinda Roddie

Mommy, when will I become a Jedi
and fly to Dagobah to meet Yoda,
where he'll teach me how to lift ships
out of swamps and let me give him
a piggyback ride through the dense,
hot miasma of the planet he's exiled
himself to? Can I find Han Solo or Rey

in the Millennium Falcon? She's got
it where it counts, Mom, and I want
to be in that metal hull hurtling
thousands of miles across a galaxy
far, far away. Can I pick the color

of my lightsaber? Will it be blue or
green or purple? It can't be red
because those are for Sith, and I look
at the howling masks of Vader and Ren
and know that I don't want a metal veil
covering my face. I want to feel

the Tatooine heat on my back,
watching its two suns set as my tunic
bristles against my robe, and when
the whine of turbine engines gets louder,
I know that the Rebel Alliance is here
again, ready to carry me away to jungles

and forests and snowy plains,
so I can confront the evil that
has risen from my past and make
my future that much bigger and brighter.

Obi-Wan, you are not my only hope,
but your words are wise: Use
the Force, Luke. And I will feel
that sensation of being bound
to everything else in the cosmos -

it tickles a little, Mommy! -
and with the cold hilt warming
in my palm, I'll light a humming path
to a new Republic as my own mental Empire
explodes like the Death Star and leaves nothing
but peace and quiet behind.

This poem is dedicated to one of my favorite franchises - Star Wars, of course. Hope you're all enjoying the nerdery, and May the Fourth be with you!