Exoplanet
Poetry reading at Iron John’s Brewing Company, Tucson, AZ. Click on Exoplanet to view video.
Astronomers discover a new star: Trappist-1
and its seven planets--b through h
I’m relieved to know there’s hope for me,
that a Goldilocks character might inhabit
another world. Some water is likely there,
not frozen but free to slide down mountains
and glimmer off the starset, life as I
would want it--warm enough to be nurtured,
strong enough to survive meteor rain, asteroids--
while I wait for the right eon
to be invited to live there and love
a body called d, e or f--it’s hard to see on Earth,
40 light years away from Aquarius.
But I’m patient.
I’ll flip through the planets,
focus the telescope and hold my breath
for the fly-by of your light
to reach me.
(first published in Heron Tree, 2017)
