NASA to fire exploding rocket into the moon
to see if there is any water or ice below the surface
— a news story from October 7, 2009
You have no idea how much ice there is,
for such as you, and how many deep pits
in which you might smother or drown.
Do I look defenseless to you? I am your mirror!
I glance around at my celestial companions,
the stars and other moons. I ask them, and I ask myself,
Who are these humanoid insects,
hurling their phallic spears at my hollow depths?
Do they imagine I cannot feel
their flammable darts strike my sacred zones
where meteors ripped my skin
and gouged out my crust in eons past?
They open old wounds at their peril.
This sphere remembers every shameful look,
every insult, every sneer, every scathing glance.
Nothing escapes my notice.
Their propulsive explosions always leave a scar
— though presently hidden from their earthly eyes,
their sublunary skies — but will never force me
to yield up evidence of my subterranean springs.
— 25 Tishrei, 5770 / October 13, 2009
Comments:
A personae poem that appeared in arc-26 (2019). It has a twin moon-themed poem, “Time Capsule — 1957,” that was written the same day. That poem won an Honorable Mention in the Reuben Rose Poetry Competition and appeared in Voices Israel 2016.
