Illich, Donald

English

Iowa Research Online

Masthead Logo The Iowa Review
Volume 35
Issue 2 Fall Article 26
2005
Sketch of an Astronaut
Donald Illich
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Recommended Citation
Illich, Donald. "Sketch of an Astronaut." The Iowa Review 35.2 (2005): 96-96. Web.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.17077/0021-065X.6067
DONALD ILLICH 
Sketch of an Astronaut 
I've wondered how far a man in a spacesuit 
can go in this little town, shaped for sleepy 
farmers and teens with buckets of turnips, 
who throw them off trucks at crowds of children. 
He has his own source of oxygen, so the smoke 
of Cuban cigars at the lodge or the gray clouds 
over the daily book burnings don't tear up his eyes 
or roll him over into a waiting line of coffins. 
Making so much of his big leaps at hopscotch, he 
plants flags in the housewives' petunias and plays 
golf among the asphalt potholes, disappointed 
the ball skips across lawns and fails to soar. 
When he chaperones the prom with our youngest teacher 
he buzzes his words through the white helmet, 
dwarfs her hands with his insulated gloves, and 
doesn't feel the hot pink lipstick through his visor. 
The neighbors find his boot prints, large steps 
for a man, at two in the morning outside their launch 
pads, where the astronaut creates explosive sounds 
with his mouth inside space cars that won't fire. 
Before he leaves he sits in a chair at the ladies' 
auxiliary, who a week ago drew their first naked man. 
No matter how much they plead the suit stays on. 
Around his massive head they sketch the stars. 
96 
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