"I Have Never Travelled Beyond"- from The Ruby of the Universe - Dan Lukiv his poem is from The Ruby of the Universe. The title is taken from a line in the final poem, and all of them explore themes related to war. click here to read the others. I Have Never Travelled Beyond I have never traveled beyond The crack of gunfire; O, I've visited backyard swimming pools And steamy swamps And mountain-locked lakes where Dragonflies turn at 2.5 G's And dance In mosquito-air And shore-side ballrooms of Green. I've seen them outperform Timid damselflies (That rest with upturned, Not sideturned, wings), In 60 mph sprints And moment's-notice backward-, forward-, Sideway-, or hover-steps. 30,000 images to 80% of its brain-mass Locate mosquito-meat at 60 feet At dusk-- And 24 frames per second of "In Love and War" Are still-photos For this sniper extraordinaire, This metallic flash of blue Or green or yellow. The wet larva, Sometimes after years of skin-altering, Settles on a reed; The change, the growth, Like the workings of testosterone In a boy's blood-- Watch the skin along the thorax split: A new life, A new hunter of aphids and beetles And tiny frogs, A new sniper in Philippine- Canyons, A new jewel for ponds and Riverbanks-- A new insultingly-named Helicopter Within the zing Of bullets. I have never traveled beyond The crack of gunfire, But I have seen dragonflies Everywhere. Dan Lukiv is a writer, educator, and frequent contributor to canadian content. comments about this article? give us feedback