Shooting for the Moon
You’re rudely dragged awake from sleep
and a night full of forgotten dreams
by the incessant farting of your phone
and its insistent ‘get the hell up’ screams.
While you mumble, bitch and moan,
your bed abruptly begins to empty itself
forcefully of your flabby and flaccid form.
You know you have no say as you stagger
to the bathroom bearing a bloated bladder,
not before tripping over the bloody robo vac
and cursing the roving autonomous little shit.
You then head to the kitchen for a breakfast
prepared by the overly attentive AI house assistant.
What possessed you to name it ‘Jeeves’
and give it a posh British butler’s voice?
Without asking, Jeeves activates a wall panel
turning a Van Gogh field of sunflowers
into an over-caffeinated female news anchor.
See then Artemis shooting an arrow at the moon
as the talking heads on screen “ooh!” and “aah!”
while all the crowds and viewers sway and swoon
over a myriad of ‘firsts ’ and gush and go gaga
at how even brother Apollo had been out performed.
while all the crowds and viewers sway and swoon
over a myriad of ‘firsts ’ and gush and go gaga
at how even brother Apollo had been out performed.
And there you stand in your saggy tatty baggy underwear
waiting for mind to catch up and sync with eye and ear
as you learn that you are the crew and they are you
and we are all together; so see how they fly
higher, further and faster so far up in the sky,.
Suddenly your phone whimpers and whines
like the yappy needy little mutt next door.
Like Pavlov’s dog you immediately respond
as you learn that you are the crew and they are you
and we are all together; so see how they fly
higher, further and faster so far up in the sky,.
Suddenly your phone whimpers and whines
like the yappy needy little mutt next door.
Like Pavlov’s dog you immediately respond
leaving Artemis to admire the moon’s backside.
Message says your work at home job is now extinct,
given over to one of Jeeves’ smarter AI cousins.
On screen NASA’s PR machine weaves words
with which to console you about how much
Artemis holds the key to humanity’s purpose
while you stand there wondering what to do next.
Suddenly you start wondering and pondering -
Would 50 billion one dollar bills stacked high
reach as far as Artemis way beyond Earth’s sky?
What if the stack collapsed and fell back to Earth?
Five bucks for each person or a thing of more worth?
Teeth that get fixed and the best health care for all?
Food for the hungry and kindness for the soul,
while for the homeless, a roof over their head;
and all kids having the chance to learn and play
instead of thinking that next day they could be dead?
Message says your work at home job is now extinct,
given over to one of Jeeves’ smarter AI cousins.
On screen NASA’s PR machine weaves words
with which to console you about how much
Artemis holds the key to humanity’s purpose
while you stand there wondering what to do next.
Suddenly you start wondering and pondering -
Would 50 billion one dollar bills stacked high
reach as far as Artemis way beyond Earth’s sky?
What if the stack collapsed and fell back to Earth?
Five bucks for each person or a thing of more worth?
Teeth that get fixed and the best health care for all?
Food for the hungry and kindness for the soul,
while for the homeless, a roof over their head;
and all kids having the chance to learn and play
instead of thinking that next day they could be dead?
Your doubts though are soon folded up and put away
as you watch ultra HD images of moon and Earth.
“Such resolution!” all on screen gasp and gush
but then you wonder if any of the pixels contain
any hint of the cratered moonscapes and terrain
that humanity has managed to create in Ukraine,
Gaza, Lebanon and Iran or the red maria in Sudan.
What of the rivers and tributaries of the displaced?
Can you trace their uncertain courses and destinations?
Will they show up in these dazzling cosmic snapshots?
“This shows what humanity is capable of achieving!”
a voice from space intones to many viewers unaware
of the FIRST human journey beyond Earth to another world
as you watch ultra HD images of moon and Earth.
“Such resolution!” all on screen gasp and gush
but then you wonder if any of the pixels contain
any hint of the cratered moonscapes and terrain
that humanity has managed to create in Ukraine,
Gaza, Lebanon and Iran or the red maria in Sudan.
What of the rivers and tributaries of the displaced?
Can you trace their uncertain courses and destinations?
Will they show up in these dazzling cosmic snapshots?
“This shows what humanity is capable of achieving!”
a voice from space intones to many viewers unaware
of the FIRST human journey beyond Earth to another world
on Christmas eve 1968 when from a fragile craft crackling voices
bore messages from Genesis to all of us on the good earth:
where presidents and men with a dream were shot dead;
where protesting students were gunned down in universities;
where US race riots and violent protests in Paris erupted;
where a carpet of bombs was being laid in foreign lands;
where body bags brought back the dead from distant wars;
where humanity itself faced the eve of its own destruction;
Those crackling voices had dragged us back from oblivion,
and for the FIRST time humanity caught a glimpse Earth’s beauty
and the fragility of the flawed blue marble as viewed from space.
bore messages from Genesis to all of us on the good earth:
where presidents and men with a dream were shot dead;
where protesting students were gunned down in universities;
where US race riots and violent protests in Paris erupted;
where a carpet of bombs was being laid in foreign lands;
where body bags brought back the dead from distant wars;
where humanity itself faced the eve of its own destruction;
Those crackling voices had dragged us back from oblivion,
and for the FIRST time humanity caught a glimpse Earth’s beauty
and the fragility of the flawed blue marble as viewed from space.
A message of hope, and unity flowed forth from the words:
"And God saw the light, that it was good:
and God divided the light from the darkness."
But humanity soon grew bored, preoccupied and distracted
while suffering collective amnesia and so here we are again.
You standing there beginning to yawn and fidget and fiddle
with your phone, fretting about the economy and the cost of guzzlene
while dreaming of buying a shiny Chinese EV or NEW robo vac
or whatever you’re told on some screen what you really need.
The media spin masters say there’s a race to be won and win we will:
around the moon; to the moon; on the moon; beyond the moon;
onward to Mars; 400.000 miles, 40 million miles, a billion miles;
trillions of miles to the nearest star system; thousands of light years
across the galaxy, millions of light years to other galaxies and more!
Once we gobble up all the rare earth minerals on our rare Earth
we’ll dig baby dig and drill baby drill our way across the universe.
Victory to humanity divine when we become gods with Zeus!
In the meantime his daughter will continue to fire her arrows
while we continue to hurl our own arrows at one another
and you my friend may as well go back to bed and slumber
and dream forgotten dreams of your complete insignificance
in a vast universe that views your existence with indifference.
and God divided the light from the darkness."
But humanity soon grew bored, preoccupied and distracted
while suffering collective amnesia and so here we are again.
You standing there beginning to yawn and fidget and fiddle
with your phone, fretting about the economy and the cost of guzzlene
while dreaming of buying a shiny Chinese EV or NEW robo vac
or whatever you’re told on some screen what you really need.
The media spin masters say there’s a race to be won and win we will:
around the moon; to the moon; on the moon; beyond the moon;
onward to Mars; 400.000 miles, 40 million miles, a billion miles;
trillions of miles to the nearest star system; thousands of light years
across the galaxy, millions of light years to other galaxies and more!
Once we gobble up all the rare earth minerals on our rare Earth
we’ll dig baby dig and drill baby drill our way across the universe.
Victory to humanity divine when we become gods with Zeus!
In the meantime his daughter will continue to fire her arrows
while we continue to hurl our own arrows at one another
and you my friend may as well go back to bed and slumber
and dream forgotten dreams of your complete insignificance
in a vast universe that views your existence with indifference.
First two images generated by Chatgpt
Other images from Artemis 2 mission
©chris Christopoulos
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