One Moon

by Carolyn Dahl

Today America shot the moon,
ruler of our seas and nights.
It was so target-like to gun slingers like us.

It was only a little probe the scientists
said, the impact small, the risk ours
to take. We need to know if there is ice
and water on the surface, on-site supplies
could lighten a rocket’s load; tourists
could bring home more souvenir rocks.

After the debris cleared television screens,
the man’s face in the moon wore a new blemish.
In the silence of distance, we couldn’t hear
the satellites of our competitive world turn.
Lock and load.