poetry 3I ATLAS – poems 2 die for

PUNCTURED

on its way
to a smooth landing
3I/ATLAS must
have decisively
punctured
Fermi’s paradox

unless it didn’t
unless
it was just a comet
after all

a speed freak comet,
utterly anomalous
without
respect for comet rules
and the abiding
principles
of our scientific community

and all that talk of
lights nicely
    planned trajectory
(worryingly
       strategic) and
messages sent to
NASA telling
us no
    worries within
the hydrogen band

just the usual junk
that orbits
common sense in
our media eccentrically

product of our
demand for excitement,
need for
hysteria
fear of annihilation

longing
for signs and
last ditch
hope that the cosmos
might notice us

assign us place
and propriety we

just do not deserve

last fly-bye
was spinning surfboard
heading for Maui

this one, Atlas
with the three eyes
is
completely different

calling it
a comet but
I don’t buy it

smart comet like this got
to be
billion to one
shot

yep, maybe
it’s a probe, probe self-
illuminated
full
of Sagittarius

perhaps it is something
beyond any
sci fi imagining

here to
    enlighten, give
us a vibe
        (this year
of snake
being
     absolute
right time)

or maybe it’s payback
verdict
from the cosmos

saw
read the truth
of evolution, stink
stuff
in history

emissary from
the deep

somewhere in its hold
our statement
of account

final
rejection slip

come to
personally deliver
eye to
3 I