Soft Spots in the Night Sky

The soft spots in the night sky

weep galaxies so distant

not even giant telescopes

can resolve their fuzzy outlines.

You wonder who would choose to live

so far from the nearest Starbucks,

so aloof from the art and music

superior to life itself.

I suggest that such inhabitants

have stalled in their own stone age.

They dine on raw meat and drink

water so rife with flagella

that they vomit every meal

and stay trim as ancient Romans.

You believe they’re encased

in stainless hides and have sex

with remote devices cast

in plastics easily recycled.

You expect them to appear overhead

at any moment, waving tentacles

equipped with post-digital gear.

The night doesn’t keep its secrets,

though, and the fierce spillover

of creation coughs up sparkles

of glitter you could scrape up

and serve on your best dinnerware.

Yes. those galaxies look plush

as teddy bears, but their heat,

penetrating the spectrum

and sifted through millions of light years,

could warm us every night in bed

if only you relaxed and let it.