67P/C-G
By John Tipton
two oblong lobes
of rough ice
methane and ammonia
fallen far below
the Kuiper Belt
perturbed by Jupiter
into nearer perihelion
where they warm
the coma sublimes
the tail blurs
a trim probe
relays images from
the twilit surface
as gray and
vacant as sleep
this small craft
a little boat
a dim soul
in an afterlife
in attenuate gravity
in stifling quiet
in the Tuat
to be weighed
against the truth
Thoth and Anubis
at the Scales
Copyright Credit: John Tipton, "67P/C-G." Copyright © 2017 by John Tipton. Used by permission of the author for PoetryNow, a partnership between the Poetry Foundation and the WFMT Radio Network.
Source: PoetryNow (2017)