“Radio Skyway”

An Ode to the Amateur Radio Service

By John T Hart

And as it was
Forever that they talk, that they
keep talking-

Under the wan ionosphere where
as the antenna points to the sky,
pierced the night & now
follows straight
a radio wave
above our seven continents
the dreamlike continuum…

And the Amateurs – ourselves
the hams from inside the
shacks, heard
only on the airwaves
friendly,
tapping Morse Code

contact others hastily in the
contests & hurry
off the frequency
vanish
into the static forever, to
keep scanning-

Voices now & then beyond the
thin horizon, the antennas/antennas, towers
passing by, passing
the voices that
keep transmitting ahead of
us, off frequency, over-deviating behind us
and
down the band, those that come
contacting us using too much power
contesting relentlessly

in the skylanes, flying
north & south, speeding with-
out a sound--