Astronomers Locate Planets Beyond the Milky Way

Might be space debris or sun-burnt husks
in the barren dreadful

now. Perhaps alien societies grew,
thrived, vanished between the seen & is.

Imagine parties,
front door closing lastly at night’s end;

strutting into Paradise
to find a ghost town: desolate, mute as dust.

ACE BOGGESS

Ace Boggess is the author of five books of poetry, including Misadventure, Ultra Deep Field, and The Prisoners. His writing has appeared in Harvard Review, Notre Dame Review, Mid-American Review, and other journals. His sixth collection, Escape Envy, is forthcoming in 2021. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.