TOP TRUMPED

I've mentioned the Operation Paperclip before. It was a top secret strategy to bring into the USA and the UK useful Nazi scientists of dubious virtue. Among those so sanitised were Wernher von Braun and his V2 rocket engineers. The fact that they had used slave labour to build the V2 was glossed over.
Once in America they were sent to White Sands. The OSE was simply relieved that the Soviets had not managed to capture them.
They spent the end of the 1940s testing V2 rockets with monkeys locked inside them. The Soviets were doing similar things.
Neil Armstrong, when he first set foot on the moon, said it was a small step for a man.
This weeks poem is about of all this.

A Small Step for a Man

As usual the Americans were busy,

semi-secretly murdering monkeys,

no say, one way passengers,

locked into war surplus V2 rockets.

It kept the newly naturalised Nazis happy,

hidden out of the way at White Sands, Arizona.

Still the Soviets top trumped them,

proudly sending a stray dog into space to die.

There was no stopping either of them after that.

It was like Noah's Ark in reverse.

How many animals could they send to their deaths?

So let's not forget the monkeys,

the rabbit, the rats, all the fruit flies

and the amoeba,

who came to realise

that small step was far too steep.

I have been working on this poem for some time. It has benefited from being left in a drawer for a couple of months. When I came to look at it again I could see the flaws.

The photographs were taken at a reclamation yard in Somerset that used to have an old missile amongst its stock.
Here is the wondrous Annabelle Chvostek. Any chance of a tour of the UK?

Until next time.