Poetry: “People Chattering, Machines Beeping” by Lachlan Maddock
Space is kind of polarizing. Some people are terrified by the void, the emptiness, the lack of oxygen, while others are fascinated, somehow intensely curious and always drawn to it…the mystery of the final Frontier. Don’t worry, it’s not our last by a long shot. But Lachlan Maddock’s poem captures these anxieties and brings them back to Earth, using the movie Armageddon and the space motif in order to consider the kind of human and ground-level neuroses that we can all relate to. Aging, losing our memories, but also watching people around us go through this process. Maddock uses celebrities as his case studies, but the personal and emotional connection of the poem and its inspiration is clearly deeply inspired by Maddock’s own experiences. Sometimes poetry, writing, art, anything creative really, it takes us where we expect to go, and sometimes it surprises us. The trick is being open enough to hear the messages when they find you. Maddock’s frenetic pace as he fires facts at us creates a kind of defensive shell. How dedicated are your readers? How much do they want to dream what you dream?
People Chattering, Machines Beeping
Name of the asteroid in Armageddon (1998). Why is the asteroid called Dottie? What does it
mean that the version of Shanghai Dottie destroys in Armageddon (1998) is medieval fantasy
Shanghai? How big is Dottie? How big is Texas? Wouldn’t it be easier to train astronauts to
drill? How is it determined that Harry Stamper’s drill crew is the best in the world? What
does it feel like to sit atop 718943.9065 kilograms of propellant in the moment before it
ignites? Production budget of Armageddon (1998). Why is Billy Bob Thornton always in
motion? What causes space dementia? Why does space dementia cause you to fire a minigun
at your fellow astronauts/oil drillers? How does it feel to be told you are the son Bruce Willis
never had? What is it like to be Bruce Willis? Now, I mean. Is he happy? Does he know?
What does aphasia feel like? If you forget language do you still want to speak? Do you still
try to make the sounds? Do your lips remember their shapes? Can you still be understood?
And after you shove Ben Affleck back into the shuttle and you’re standing on Dottie with the
detonator in your hand, hurtling towards Earth at 6000 metres per second, about to become
stardust, will you still think about that thing you never found the words to say?
