Titanic Cruise and Coordinated Universal Time

‘Coordinated Universal Time’ is named after the time zone used, somewhat arbitrarily, on the International Space Station, and was inspired by Ido Mizrahy’s documentary ‘Voyage to Mars: The Longest Goodbye’, about how NASA is preparing astronauts and their families for future journeys to Mars. This poem is about our cackhanded, maybe hopeless but persistent efforts to communicate or synchronise with each other over what feel like increasing distances, in resistance to Elon Musk-ish hubris.

‘Titanic Cruise’ is about another journey, which I’m almost as bewildered by people’s eagerness to take part in. I can't imagine spending a holiday re-creating the Titanic's fatal voyage, but some people do, and I'm sure I enjoy things that are just as bizarre. The poem wonders at our fascination with certain fears, versus the silent, terrifying things we’re almost incapable of paying attention to. I think that saying the scary thing is one of poetry’s major powers.