1909
Lights appear in the sky
Say, it’s that machine
Isn’t it?
Tillinghast Machine
It all begins
December
With Mr. Wallace E. Tillinghast
Vice-President
Sure Seal Manufacturing Company
Worcester, Massachusetts
Curled mustache
Dark hair smooth
And slicked back
Shiny from Brybream
Black suit
White waistcoat
Dotted necktie
Hamburg hat
Puffs his briar pipe
Man of eminence
And reputation
Holder of several patents
Tells the Boston Herald
That he has invented,
Tested and built
A heavier-than-air aeroplane
Capable of carrying
3 passengers
With a weight limit
Of 600 pounds
A distance of 300 miles
Without stop
To replenish supply of gasoline
Could travel at unheard of speed
Of 120 miles per hour
Lights appear in the sky
What? People say
What?
Tillinghast Machine
Nothing can fly like that
The news
All over the world
All over the world
There’s no such thing
As moving lights
That are not meteors
Almost all known airplanes
Are tiny open biplanes
The Tillinghast Machine
Weighs 1550 pounds
Wingspan of 72 feet
Can take off
In a small area
Of about 75 feet
120 horse power engine
Of special construction
Two giant feelers
Like an insect’s antennae
Each side of the machine
35 feet long
At the end of each one
Is a box kite
No matter how the wind blows
The kites right themselves
And the machine
To which they are attached
Could travel at unheard of speeds
Of up to 120 miles per hour
Puffs his briar pipe
Lights appear in the sky
Scientists:
No man can travel faster
Than 60 miles per hour
Without suffering
Tremendous pressures
And brain damage
Show it to us
Let us the see this machine
No matter how the wind blows
The kites right themselves
A craft of that size
Could hardly take off
In the space of 25 yards
This is far beyond
The capabilities of any known craft
Only in 1903
The Wright Brothers
Succeed in flying
First heavier-than-air plane
July 1909
Louis Bleriot
First to fly
Across the English Channel
45 miles per hour
Altitude of 250 feet
10 knot wind
Only 21 miles across
Say, it’s that machine
Isn’t it?
Tillinghast Machine
Wilbur Wright himself
Too palpably absurd
From the first to take seriously
News all over the world
All over the world
Man of eminence
And reputation
Puffs his briar pipe
Flies secretly at night
There’s no such thing
As moving lights
That are not meteors
Show it to us
Let us see this machine
Wallace E. Tillinghast
Tells of Flight
300 Miles in Air
Front page headlines
One of more than 100
Secret night flights
Boasts that in September
He and two mechanics
Flew this so-called airship
Of the monoplane type
From Worcester
To New York City
Circled the Statue of Liberty
3 times
And back again
By way of Boston
At one point
Near Fire Island
Off the coast of Long Island
One of the cylinders
Of the flier
Runs irregularly
Engine shut off
Contraption glides
For 46 miles
4000 feet high
While the repairs
Are being made
Engine starts again
Over 100 successful trips
18 of which
In his perfected machine
Puffs his briar pipe
Flies secretly at night
No matter how the wind blows
The kites right themselves
A member of life saving patrol
On the beach
Comes forward
So that is what I saw
That is what I saw
Says he heard
The whirr of an engine
Lights appear in the sky
The Boston Globe
Publishes a letter
From a Cyrus Herrick
Stating that a
Double meteor
He had sighted
Previous August
Must in reality
Be the Tillinghast Machine
Only the great speed
Of the lights
Marred our belief
That it was an aircraft
Begins to question
His meteor theory
When he hears
The next day
That two other vacationers
Have seen the lights
Travelling in the opposite direction
But he does not
Abandon the idea
Until the news
From Worcester
About that machine
What a refreshing possible
Hypothesis
On the strange sight
We saw that night
Several Connecticut residents
Tell a reporter
From Hartford Daily Times
One night
Early September
Spotted unusual aerial object
A very powerful beam of light
Moving across the southern sky
In light of recent events
Must be Tillinghast Machine
Must be
What? People say
What?
Nothing can fly like that
There’s no such thing
As moving lights
That are not meteors
It’s a whisper
A canticle from the sky
Puffs his briar pipe
Flies secretly at night
The news
All over the world
All over the world
1 am
December 20th
People around the harbor
Of Boston, Massachusetts
See a bright light
Passing over
A cylindrical shaft
Of light
Arising from the southern horizon
Stretched over the firmament
Immigration Inspector How
Comes to the conclusion
That it must be
Tillinghast Machine
Must be
The next light
1:15 am
Residents of Pawtucket, Rhode Island
See 2 red lights
Proceed southward
All are able
To make out the outline
Of a flying machine
Against the stars
A flying machine
Brilliant light reported
Passing over Marlboro, Massachusetts
The light
At a height so great
To make impossible
A view of its support
In the direction
Of Westborough
And Worcester
It’s a whisper
A canticle from the sky
What? People say
What?
Traced from
North Grafton
Not far from Worcester
Through Grafton,
Hopedale, Milford
After being lost sight of
Reappears in Natick
Direction of Boston
Positive it
Was a searchlight
Lights appear in the sky
SKYSHIP OF MYSTERY
FLIES ABOVE BOSTON
MAN AGAIN ABSENT
FROM HOME ALL EVENING
Nothing can fly like that
No matter how the wind blows
The kites right themselves
Reporter Thomas Mueller
Of The Worcester Telegram and Gazette
Wearing a lounge coat
Slender
Fine mustache
At home
With his son and daughter
Blowing smoke rings
With his Pall Mall
Son 5 years old
Sailor suit
With knickerbockers
Plays with his
Model T Ford diecast car
Daughter 9 years old
Red curlets
Blue knee length dress
Lace trimmings
Reads aloud from
Life and Adventures
Of Santa Claus
By L. Frank Baum
Santa as a baby
Found in the Forest
Of Burzee
By Ak the Master Woodsman
Whether it be rich
Or poor
A child’s longing
For pretty playthings
Are but natural
I think friend Claus
It is your duty
To make little ones glad
-Oh Daddy
-I want Crayola Crayons for Christmas
-Gold Medal school crayons
-Will you and mummy
-Get them for me?
– Will you Daddy?
– I want a teddy bear
The phone rings
Brass candlestick
He’s a reporter
So they have a phone
Tillinghhast
He’s going to speak again
Go to his home
Immediately
Puffs his briar pipe
Men of eminence
And reputation
His eyes terribly bloodshot
Face cut
Wind tanned
Evidence of having
Been out
In a strong high
And cold wind
Hmm
Can’t be true
Can it?
Puffs his briar pipe
Will you confirm
That you are responsible
For the lights?
Sighs
I will confirm nothing
Except that I am in
The possession of a machine
That can do things
Like no other
When I said that I had flown
From Boston to New York
And returned
I said nothing but what was true
Show it to us
Let us see this machine
I will show it
In good time
Perhaps in February
At an aero show in Boston
I did not seek this publicity
When did you build it?
Where is it?
Sighs
Puffs his briar pipe
It is the business
Of no one but myself
And my mechanics
Lights appear in the sky
Flies secretly at night
Seen leaving his home
At the train station
Hasn’t been home
All night
He telephoned his house
At 4
Knock on his door
Where is Mr. Tillinghast?
Where is he?
His wife
Pouter pigeon dress
Where he is
Is his business
He knows what he’s doing
He will answer all of your questions
When he is good and ready to
And not a moment before
It’s a whisper
A canticle from the sky
December 23rd
Main Street
Worcester
Night time
Christmas shopping
The Park Building
JP Kettel and Co.
Bancroft Hotel
The orange trolleys
Rattling by
Women in laced trims
Boned corsets
Low pompadour
Chignon hairstyles
Reporter Thomas Mueller
Strolling with his family
Holding Christmas bundles
Like everyone else
A light snow
Music from Thomas Edison phonograph
Top hit from Hayden Quartet
Up, Up, Up In My Aeroplane
If you envy the flight of the seagull
A far better bird I will find
It’s one of those things
That can fly without wings
For it carries its motors behind
Going up, up, up, up, up
In my aeroplane
With you I fly
7:30 pm
Someone yells
Look! Look!
Lights appear in the sky
Crowd of shoppers
Several policemen
Gather to peer
At the lights
A thousand feet aloft
Steadily growing in size
Sailing over the city
Stars are moving
The moon quickening
A silver ornament
With you I fly
Almost stationary
Over State Mutual Life Insurance Building
Hanging like a hawk
Mueller’s daughter
– It’s Santa!
– It’s Santa!
Mueller’s wife Evelyn
Burgundy checked wool coat
With pink buttons
We don’t know what it is dear
He knows that the best
Of children were sometimes naughty
And that the naughty ones
Were often good
It is the way
With children the world over
– It’s Santa!
– Mummy! Daddy!
– Is it Santa?
Say it’s that machine
Isn’t it?
Tillinghast Machine
Someone says
He can distinguish
A frame quite plainly
I see two men!
Stars are moving
The moon quickening
A silver ornament
With you I fly
Again the search light
Thousands stand
In the street agape
Look at those lights!
Look at those lights!
Men and boys
Pour from the clubhouses
Women rush
From their houses
The streets
Thronged with people
Look at it!
The Common
Filled to capacity
Repeatedly circling
The city for hours
In a huge machine
It’s wonderful!
There is no doubt
That the same person
Was navigating
A heavier-than-air machine
– Is it Santa Mummy?
– Is it Santa?
Going up, up, up, up, up
In my aeroplane
With you I fly
Other newspapers
Start to doubt the stories
The Providence Journal
It’s an epidemic
Of infected vision
There’s no such thing
As moving lights
That are not meteors
It’s hard cider season
In New England
That says it all
Nothing can fly like that
It’s a remarkable delusion
A remarkable delusion
Puffs his briar pipe
Flies secretly at night
No matter how the wind blows
The kites right themselves
It’s a whisper
A canticle from the sky
Show it to us
Let us see this machine
The Providence-Rhode Island Journal
Tillinghast is absolutely
Incommunicado
The notoriety that has followed him
Since the mysterious lights were seen
Has seriously interfered
With his business
Not permitted
An hour’s peace
At his office constantly
2 or 3 people
Who want
To know something
At home
His telephone constantly rings
Reporters camped
Outside his door
Inside his home
Unidentified men sit with him
Black frock coats
Bowler hats
Curled mustaches
Pipes
Mysterious men
Who are they?
They’re the ones
Pulling the strings
He’s just a puppet
A puppet
Reporters
And private citizens
Decide to search
Every shed and barn
Within vicinity
Of Worcester
Every shed and barn
Scour the countryside
To find where
He stores machine
Tillinghast Machine
Fan out and search
United Press representative
Is arrested
And brought before
The Justice of the Peace
Trespassing
West Boylston
6 miles from Worcester
Claims he found the machine
Tillinghast Machine
What? People say
What?
Shed in dense woods
J.H. Gough Estate
A wooden shed
More than 100 feet long
Padlocked
Didn’t see what’s inside
14 men
Guarding the shed
Employ of Paul D. Morgan
Intimate of
Wallace E. Tillinghast
Known to also
Be interested
In aerial navigation
Invested in
Failed Swedish project
I’m telling you
It’s in the shed
Tillinghast Machine
In the shed
But the shed
Is never opened
One night
Wallace E. Tillinghast
And his family
Quietly move out
Gone
And so are the lights
Where did he go?
Did he fly off?
With you I fly
And so are the lights
Until reporter Thomas Mueller
On a stroll one evening
With his family
A light snow
– Look Daddy!
– Look!
They look up
Lights appear in the sky
Stars moving
The moon quickening
Silver ornaments
Two of them
– It’s him, isn’t it?
– It’s him!
– They’re moving
– Just for us
- More Things I Would Tell You - February 20, 2020
- Third Eye of the Inner Light - May 21, 2018
- The Tillinghast Machine - December 20, 2014
