Life on Neptune

Life on Neptune

 

I selected Neptune

Because I’ve never read

Anything speculative about it

Most of the time, it looks blue

On a map

Like a blue piece

Of sea glass

I might have around somewhere

Life on Neptune would be

Hard

Poison for an atmosphere

Contrary gravity

So distant from our first home

More so from life-giving sun

How grace might provide a

Reason for the colony

 

We’d be that much closer to

Life among the stars

In company with everything far-flung

In our system and

Not to dissemble

Our own galaxy

We’d have to think that way, or else

The nearness of our labors

In such a lifeless place

Static resources notwithstanding

Should drive us mad

For having dared

Such faraway commitments

 

C L Couch

 

 

Image by M W from Pixabay

 

Corazón

Corazón

 

Can I write about this now?

Maybe a sabbath day will help

It’s the living, you know

They cannot have that

The people of Puerto Rico

Spanish and Taino

Legacy of colony

Self-determination that we prize

So much is always mollified

Into a chance for daily life

And that is gone and has been for such

A long, long while

 

We chose this for them

Our nation did not free them

Did not favor statehood

Rendered a possession in a war

With Spain

One set of owners to another

Arecibo’s there

Ancient San Juan with El Moro

But life is dark

Because there’s no electricity

For so many

For so many

 

It’s a litany of labor

Living that does not allow for expectation:

What might we have today

Food that has not spoiled

Walls that are dry at last of storm

Our children start school soon

Will there power in the classroom

Or at home for studying?

The nation could answer affirmative

We haven’t

 

We could build them back

And Texas, too

And, yes, handle the wildfires

In the golden state

And all the shootings in Chicago

We’re reactive

Here’s a tragedy

Could be our finest set of hours

What is it

They’re mestizo?

We don’t know five hundred years of conflict

To comfort?

We’re unaware of what is manufactured

That we need?

 

I’m asking

Because we made a claim

Because we have the navy there

And look for understanding in the stars

 

So maybe we can listen for

Ayúdanos

 

C L Couch

 

 

Free photo: El Moro Puerto Rico – structure, washed, worn – Non …

Jooinn

El Moro Puerto Rico, structure, washed, worn, stone