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"Quantum Physiques"
by Jeph Johnson
Like intelligent life
existing in the universe,
the odds of me
getting laid tonight
are astronomically
in my favor.
Yet, as we all know,
the coordination involved
with orchestrating any
sort of contact is null,
at least in my lifetime
without time itself
teetering on a tightrope.
I mean just check it out,
not one, but three
in a whirling orbit
around that star.
All nubile and curvaceous
and suitable for sustaining life!
The ease of which
life sprouts effortlessly
from what I perceive as
second hand stardust
still astounds me.
None of the satellites
seem aware
they're being
observed
through a
telescope
by a starry-eyed
astrophysicist,
who may as well be
a grey-bearded pervert.
It's the difference between
astrology and astronomy:
With astronomy
it takes billions
of light years for
the constellations
to form.
Whereas astrology
provides my fortunes
an immediate windfall.
I'd even settle for
a single celled organism,
but they're hard to see.
"What's your sign?"
Perhaps I'll swap
my telescope
for a microscope
because I just want
something in my galaxy
to be alive again.
This kind of poem is very
This kind of poem is very difficult to construct successfully, and you have done a magnificent, more than successful, work. My only criticism would question the assertion in the eighth stanza, that the constellations took billions of years to form. The constellations were formed by Greek astronomers, or poets if you like, with naked eye observation, probably less than three thousand years ago. Question: which star system are you referring to in the third stanza? But, questions aside, I really enjoyed this poem and have read it a couple of times over. You have reached a high point with this one.
Starward