Whose idea? with art by Jon Turner

Whose idea?
    “We send the monkey out to Planet X in the Horsehead Nebula—
    the planet that looks like it’s coming and going at the same time—
    so monkey can collect soil samples and watch the stars being born.”
        —Dan Carbone


Records (that no one will ever review)
reflect that you were assembled and set
onto an unexplored planet, into
a vast, indifferent deepness. Your settings
are dialed more toward “to be,” less toward “to do.”

There’s a cay between seeing and seeking,
but you cross it without noticing how
a distant, deeper glint got you thinking:
there may be something you’re supposed to know,
a new mission to be revealed to you.

But what it was that flashed is never shown.
When you arrive where you thought you would take
the source, undifferentiated glow
surrounds you. If you feel, then it’s an ache.
You have to stop again. You have to think.

Your current programming may be a fluke.
With only your wiring, what can you make?

The Seas of Europa by Jon Turner.

Epigram from "There Be Monsters" by Dan Carbone.