Falcon Will Give Birth to
the Rover is a work of imaginative nonfiction, an historical autobiography with
concurrent headlines and events. It is written in the third person: "O wad
some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us."
It is the story of
Epimetheus, who lived in his car, a 1968 Ford Falcon, because he wished to
be a singer. He was inspired by the Apollo Moon Flights: “If they can get to
the Moon, why can’t I [fill in the blank] ...”
Apollo 8 revealed a
paradisal planet, Apollo 10 released playful spirits ("Snoopy and Charley
Brown are hugging each other!"), and Apollo 11 gave us Tranquility
Base.
O the joy! Now for my own
giant leap!
Wherefore Apollo 12
served as augury: It made a “bull’s-eye landing on the Ocean of Storms.”
Give us a sign! Give us a
sign!
Apollo 15 roused Wishy
Epi the most. He had been living in his Falcon for about two years when a
reporter-prophet hailed the coming Moon Flight. The seer disclosed that Apollo
15's lunar lander was called Falcon, and the first extraterrestrial vehicle, Rover.
He envisioned the planned landing, and oracled: "A little later, Falcon
will give birth to the Rover."
A sign! O,
Epi is called to sing of Apollo!
Epi forgot that Loxian
Apollo is e'er ambiguous: that "Rover" has many types, and "a
little later" could mean a month or two, a year or two, maybe even a score
or two — yet all are blinks of an eye "in the light of eternity."
Failure wakened many
Furies, all mirrored in ragers who could not control, or transform, their
Furies. Wherefore Epi invoked the spirit of Ishmael, who took to the sea as his
"substitute for pistol and ball." Yet the e’er-taunting Furies
pursued, and only the epic tradition gave Epi the willingness to accept the
descent into Hades; only the epic tradition affirmed his resolve to complete the
return.