Listening in Deep Space
By Diane Thiel
We've always been out looking for answers,
telling stories about ourselves,
searching for connection, choosing
to send out Stravinsky and whale song,
which, in translation, might very well be
our undoing instead of a welcome.
We launch satellites, probes, telescopes
unfolding like origami, navigating
geomagnetic storms, major disruptions.
Rovers with spirit and perseverance
mapping the unknown. We listen
through large arrays adjusted eagerly
to hear the news that we are not alone.
Considering the history at home,
in houses, across continents, oceans,
even in quests armed with good intentions,
what one seeker has done to another—
what will we do when we find each other?
Copyright Credit: Diane Thiel, "Listening in Deep Space " from Questions from Outer Space. Copyright © 2022 by Diane Thiel. Reprinted by permission of Red Hen Press.
Source: Questions from Outer Space. (Red Hen Press, 2022)