the pursuit of (someone’s) happiness

how shall we
album all our finds
as in
what are the pages made of
nowadays

there’s something like the NFT
(as in
“choose something
like a star”
or an “obscurity
of cloud”)
somehow owning
electrons
in a pleasing form
worth paying for

there are or were
the pages made of paper
though we should remember trees
before what remains
is in memoriam
only

we could try metal
though we’d have to make that
too
from the finite things
of Earth
even though
it seems
we don’t mind making metal
anyway

I remember learning
(being shown)
headlines made by water
for a newspaper
a daily
meaning that
I guess
we change the water
with the stories
making
(as well)
the water a fair metaphor
for the transitory nature
of what means
something to us
for the day

also the nature of the substance
to take
the shape of its container
like the audience who
once bought
newspapers

but it is
a finite planet
its molecules
like its days
(to say)
are numbered

I guess the easy answer
is we need more
and so we mine the moon
(mere
rocks were not
enough)
then reach out
toward Ares
maybe taking Demos
and Phobos
with us
on the way

on the way
of exploitation
that is
we mean
exploration

then there are asteroids
of which
the heavens can afford
to lose a few
there being
so many
(how many)
after all

c l couch


an exploration coda

I think we are allowed
to use this
stuff
the stuff of Earth
and as we find what rings
within
the bands beyond

but there are rules
and there should
be rules

and they should tie us
there
to here
by radio
and ethics
both worked into
the speed
of light
and light

clc


photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash 

Frost