mike-niner-four-four-alpha
slowly
surely
carefully
contemplating
Litton M944A pocketscope
the solution to my oddly specific problems
a little monocular that could do both
astrophotography and
ground-based shenanigans
planning
thinking
talking
ordering
a housing of paired with a tube of the same
lineage, my beloved L3Harris tube
a housing made for both head-mounted use
and mounted to tripod or star-tracker
for taking photos of the heavens
waiting
assembling
cleaning
testing
and so i would spend my break with an
obsolescent device, paired with nearly
obsolete oculars repurposed from the PVS-5
and with a wonderful japanese-made
machine vision lens
powering
boresighting
mounting
using
a custom j-arm to helmet mount a scope
never meant to be helmet worn
loops and knots of 550 cord
a life-line if my mounts ever failed
and a relay lens to mount my camera
learning
exploring
imaging
revealing
and so i would spend hours with the same
joyous curiosity that I spent
in those late spring nights
staring out my open window into the heavens
and imaging the depths of the sky