Terraforming Mars

Watching a show
on terraforming Mars
and wondering

what Crazy Horse would think.

An astrobiologist says,
“To me, it’s about Mars being like
the vacant lot next door.  It’s about bringing life
to where there is no life,
and that’s inherently good.  If the lot
is vacant,
why not plant a garden?”

I’m going to drop
the resurrection plant
I bought in the Phoenix airport
into a glass of water
and think about this
while it unfolds.

Crazy Horse,
if you’re listening,
please accept my apologies
for bringing it here, and
for the moment when I become bored
and take the plant out of the bowl
to watch it dry up again
until the next whim.

I see how it goes with us,
how we scheme for order
while the earth makes us scramble
for it. 

All that blank red dust…
a beacon for something inside…

all the things we’ve learned
about the way we are,
yet we still think we know best.