An Artist In Space

My young friend, the creative and talented Louis, gave me a list of words to write into a poem. His words are in bold and this poem is for him...

An Artist In Space

Wrapped in my space suit,

I am a Panda Picasso,

trying to sketch planet earth with my pencil.

So far, I'm doing a pretty good job.

Things look different up here than they do on the map:

Indonesia is a small bird bathing in the sea.

Italy doesn't look like a boot when it's upside down;

it is more like an alligator opening its great jaw.

Scandinavia is a piece of cheese on a fork.

That's pretty funny, I think,

and when I laugh,

my breath rushes past my ears

like a red tiger's roar.

There is no room for a lunchbox up here.

Instead I suck on sugar cubes

like a horse after a race.

Sometimes the whole of space

looks at me and twinkles a question:

"What?"

- as if I have the answer,

as if I represent all the people who ever lived

and can reply for us all.

Apart from the sugar cubes, and my pencil,

the only things I carry with me are words.

Weightless, unaffected by gravity, and very satisfying,

I nibble on them whenever I'm hungry.

My favourite one today is "flabbergasted".

And so I sing it out into space -

"Flabbergasted!"

- an answer to the question,

with a million tiny answers inside it

like stars packed into the galaxy's pocket.