ODE TO SCIENCE FICTION LITERATURE Dust motes dance in college classrooms. We studied pages and pages of sci-fi visions. We journeyed to desert planets where water is life, Through data streams and neon rain. We saw foundations crumble and empires die. A stranger in a swimming pool, teaching us to grok. The silence of a winter planet, a lesson in understanding. Books burned by firemen, reducing thought to ash. Children engineered to love their chains. A sentient ocean, planting phantoms in our brains. We walked in robes of captive women, Joining their fight to be free and their right to be, Questioning the bounds of our own world, Searching for the truth beneath, Learning that together, we are never alone. We plugged into a shared hallucination, The neon web of a future age, Trading our freedom to grasp at power, Turning the leaf of a dangerous page, Lost in a world that had no walls. Stories shattered our heartless worldviews, Tearing free of familiar bounds, Stepping past forbidden barriers, Exposed to the lightning of new ideas, From cosmic thrones to the depths of self. Books blast open windowless boxes, Pushing us off the beaten path, Exploring concepts we dared not whisper, Robotic servants and questions of soul— What makes a person, what makes us whole? The years stretch far into the distance, And those distant visions still hold true. We're still searching, building, hoping, Grokking, watching, learning,… Still curious apprentices, guided by distant voices in future TENSE!
