Red Giant
I thought once again as I occasionally do on bad days
about how in five billion years or so
the sun will expand & become a red giant
engulfing Mercury & Venus & perhaps Earth
toasting our planet like a marshmallow in a campfire
& assuming the human race
hasn’t figured out interstellar travel & colonized the galaxy
having deserted the husk of this once so beautiful
blue speck in space
in search of new worlds to despoil
& assuming that technologically superior & weirdly altruistic aliens
have not arrived deus ex machina
to whisk us away to some new paradise
& instead we have long since left the building
our best efforts to overcome our rapacious nature
& secure the longterm survival of our species
a total bust
for the first time ever I shrugged my shoulders
& said So?
37 thoughts on "Red Giant"
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The ampersand really works. Great ending! Love the science.
I thought you might like this, Mr. Science Guy.
Agreed. We shouldn’t be trusted with another planet. Great read.
Exactly, P.C.! And thanks.
Loved the last line after the four stanza build up. I laughed out loud—then thought about it for a while. Well done.
Glad you got the comedy of this poem, Bud. The ultimate gallows humor maybe…
I like a things about this! I like the mix of tone from conversational to scientific, Love the slightly experimental approach. That one line that mentions aliens juts out as if it’s an alien in the poem. Great work!
Thanks Linda! I’ve been thinking about the stars a lot lately for some reason. Is Coleman’s scientific mind rubbing off on me?
And I think you are rubbing on him!
I love the tone and run-on nature of this with the ampersands—really keeps me invested in where it’s going. I also hear your voice in my head when I read it. Well done!
Thanks Chelsie!
I love the way this poem builds and the surprise of the last line. Well done!
Thanks Gwyneth! Love your name btw.
it’s a funny kind of relief, and I’m here for it
Thanks, Arwen! I’m always ready to entertain you with existential doom. 😏
I love following your thought process on this one. Well done!
Glad you stayed with me, Nancy!
Encapsulates the feeling so well; lands perfectly.
Thanks Leah!
Such a lofty poem with such a down-to-earth ending. You must have written it tongue in cheek. Another great one.
Thanks Lee! At first I thought I was writing a pretty grim poem but it started to seem funny.
Clever indeeed! As Lee says, it comes down to the end with a shrug!
Thanks Greg!
All the above comments.
Captured and carried throughout.
Thanks Joseph!
Loved the way your poem progressed and the ending.
Thanks Karen!
Seriously funny poem, though before we worry about 5 billion years, let’s make it through the next 3 1/2
Ha!
You make five billion years feel intimately human, somehow! I love it.
Thanks Shaun!
Love the dark and relatable humor in this. Alien invasion does sound preferable some days. 🙂
They can’t do any worse than we have, eh Austen?
I’m on board with the nihilism expressed in this poem Kevin!
Thanks Jeremy! I definitely was in a fuckit kind of mood when I wrote this one.
Really enjoyed what the ampersands do to the pacing and tone of this one!
Thanks Danielle! I guess I mean the ampersands to give the poem a kind of speed and casualness. Is that what you perceived as well?