Chocolate On Mars! Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

Chocolate On Mars! the newspapers blared
and we all went out into the summer school streets and cheered.
And NASA broke out the BLTS, the thermoses

of cocoa.
School let out and we headed over
to Mrs. Filagrees Candy Treasures

but she was all out
so we drank coconut milk instead
and traded old stories.

how the first expeditions found butterscotch.
better luck next time, the board games said
on the little green cards

no little green men.
and then, the peppermint swirls appeared
in plain vanilla ice cream overnight...

Bradbury took his glasses off
and whooped it up
with chocolate covered malt balls

exactly like

the ones I got sick on
after I sneaked the whole bag
and the doctor said

not knowing I was bad,
here: try this chocolate coated medicine,
two spoonfuls

as I stared
realizing it's true:
God is everywhere.

mary angela douglas 25 march 2016