Ricardo Pau-Llosa

SQUANDERED MOONS
February 17, 2016 Pau-Llosa Ricardo

SQUANDERED MOONS

 

Probes on TV tell the tale of their

worthlessness—all rock and frozen acid,

enough ammonia to shine the pane of a solar

system. Beneath an ice-cap’s green and limpid

tide, the bets are off on whether cell-bright

creatures stir which breathe that leaden wash.

No more austere than our lone satellite,

their deck of molts is etched in the crack and splash

of wombed volcanoes clocked in gelid rage.

It is not chaos that herds them away from us,

but the laws of dearth whose iron, wealth, and range

edict the plenitude of shackled stillness.

Behold the spirit of our stubborn nature there,

the rocky proud before the destitute mirror.

Ricardo Pau-Llosa‘s 8th book of poems, The Turning (2018) is from his longtime publisher, Carnegie Mellon U Press. He is also an art critic and curator.  Birmingham Poetry Review will be publishing an interview with him soon.