Dark Forest
by Jonathan Travelstead
Wanting answers to questions Stephen Hawking says we're
not ready to ask, I remember crawling through the casement window
(wormhole) onto my parents' roof (space elevator).
Reclining on the shingles (launchpad), I pinched the red planet
between thumb & forefinger like a new penny I could slip, safe,
into my pocket. Now when I lay on my own roof
I think about my mortgage. How we say we own things
that outlast us, though it's really the other way around. I think about
what's out there & who's watching this lamp's flicker in the dark
& when they'll come. If they're watching the century of TV
we've been transmitting into space. Blackfaced Amos & Andy.
Hitler. Cowboys & Native Americans with their themes
of control. Movies in which we capture ETs because we won't
know if a will-o’-the-wisp is dangerous until we catch them all.
Wanting answers to questions Stephen Hawking says we're
not ready to ask, I remember crawling through the casement window
(wormhole) onto my parents' roof (space elevator).
Reclining on the shingles (launchpad), I pinched the red planet
between thumb & forefinger like a new penny I could slip, safe,
into my pocket. Now when I lay on my own roof
I think about my mortgage. How we say we own things
that outlast us, though it's really the other way around. I think about
what's out there & who's watching this lamp's flicker in the dark
& when they'll come. If they're watching the century of TV
we've been transmitting into space. Blackfaced Amos & Andy.
Hitler. Cowboys & Native Americans with their themes
of control. Movies in which we capture ETs because we won't
know if a will-o’-the-wisp is dangerous until we catch them all.