I know we label Mars the Red Planet,
but, Houston, this mosaic of Valles
Marineris's hemisphere befits
mirror image for Gorgonzola cheese,
swirls and splotches of blue marble engrained
in vast, creamy terrain. I'm looking down
on Olympus Mons now. This massive, stained
mount dwarfs our Mauna Loa. Its huge brown
cliffs seem an irate monkey's furry face,
wide caldera its screaming mouth, a pair
of collapsed craters as glaring eyes. Trace
its ashen-toned escarpment that appears
a grained silver frame, it turns a trophy
lying on some thick, boundless flokati.
Roger Armbrust
September 21, 2007
