2007 – Birds In The Moon

VEGETABLE RITES / BIRDS IN THE MOON, installation with Reinhard Reitzenstein & Patty Wallace [Collaboration], Stewart Hall Gallery, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, December 2007

ROUNDHEAD MOONSHOT

What think you, Noll? ‘Tis plain a case

As yonder wart upon thy face

We’ll put a celestial chariot into space

For England!

A celestial chariot? Aye, yet more than such

To fight the French or drub the Dutch

Though by compare might cost as much

I trow you

With cannon to propel the thing

And harnessed geese to take wing

The glory ours and damn the King

That coxcomb.

To boldly go where none have trod

The first to plough the lunar sod

Faith Noll, men say the notion’s odd

I grant you

To watch Endymion from the moon

When they could be at Bath as soon

Now coaches take all afternoon

Through London

Yet think, Noll, ‘twould be no disgrace

Whilst papist plots pervade this place

To put a Roundhead into space

To trump them.

We needs must make it sturdy, mind

The finest oak that we can find

This caulked with pitch and leather-lined

For safety

The moon and all its peoples wait

To join your new protectorate

Break out that sack. Let’s celebrate

What think you?