SETI angst

That mysterious loneliness that propels the petty
craving for "others"—unwordly friends, not foes;
SETI, not yeti.
But how it's produced such prose and shows.

A spaceship comes with a message of salvation.
Ancient beings leave a slab on the moon.
A galactic tweet's found in background radiation.
What will we find in extraterrestrial rune?

Battles? Enough! We've have enough war.
Invaders? We've beat their bad butts for fun.
Now they're dead, and what's that good for?
"To Serve Man" was only a pun.

We look instead for ETs that are smart with good vibes,
"others" we can readily trust—
something we don't have in our own planet's tribes.
We crave the other to save us from us.




placed in Poets United Poetry Pantry #59