eighteen

The guy from Drastus
has purchased the Hubble telescope.
NASA is keeping it very hush-hush.

From his increasingly opulent office
he tilts a magnet toward the horizon,
calibrating the movements of his wrist

like a professional golfer
adjusting his putt.
2.6 billion light-years away,

in sight of galaxy cluster MS0735.6+7421,
the Hubble hears the mechanical voice
of its new father.

When, thousands of years later,
the telescope arrives screaming
at the gates of earth's atmosphere

there isn't anybody there to see it
but it doesn't really matter.
With mechanical arms, it retouches its corpsepaint

one last time
before descending
on Paris.