A Little Knowledge, A Dangerous Thing 

1. 
A fright show, this universe. 
The twinkle twinkle of the stars 
is light arriving here and now from events 
impossibly ancient.  This black velour dome, 
smeared with obscene glitter we are 
seeing the age of the galaxy, 
the birth of the cosmos 
and the death of so many stars. 
Who can bear this open casket? 

2. 
Drunk and desperate 
to know the phases of the moon. 
You hold the flashlight sun; I move 
the lemon moon in an arc; 
the earth's a can of cocktail peanuts. 
All this spinning!  We can't tell 
night from storm.  The sky's obscure 
in a blaze of fire. 

3. 
Does the sun rise 
in the east and set in the west? 
Can't you see we ought to be 
raising our arms 
nightly, screaming, thrilled with fear, 
as the roller coaster dives over 
the edge, and twilight comes around? 
Beyond Pluto, other planets orbit 
other stars.  Will you opt to move 
or to remain, as this sun absorbs 
all the atoms of this earth? 


Michelle Zacks 
December 2001