By: Raymond Hammond
we need real, bona fide aliens
a confirmed, no-question-they-are-real
appearance in the sky by a spaceship
or an apparition that will instill
faith by removing all doubt that humans
are not alone, not special, not chosen
giving humans back our humanity
a resurrection, an awakening
a unification of us as one
when confronted with the unprophesied
the unexpected the uninvited
our petty religions and strongly held
beliefs based on prejudice and malice
pale in comparison and fall away
we need real, bona fide aliens
to appear in the heavens as saviors
forcing salvation through a unity
we can’t seem to be able to manage
alone or find in any imagined
religious saviors who keep promising
to appear but keep their glory hidden
Raymond P. Hammond is the editor-in-chief of both The New York Quarterly and NYQ Books. He holds an MA in English Literature from New York University and is the author of Poetic Amusement, a book of literary criticism. He lives in Beacon, NY with his wife, the poet Amanda J. Bradley, and their dog Hank.