They Took the Stars

Western Colorado
Great Basin National Park
the darkest sky I can find
in a few days' drive

Mid-August
the Perseid meteor shower
a pilgrimage I've made
since I could wander
to empty places

My gear is prepped
camera mount, telescope,
red flashlight, star map
my technique practiced
and proven

A white speck
drifts across Leo
not a bolide
a human satellite
an overgrown
wi-fi router loitering
in low-earth orbit

Another, then another
so many more than last year
their streaks already marring
my long exposures

Thousands of these glinting pests
they're visible because they're low
they're low because low is cheap
and the ghouls who launched them
wouldn't spend
for stargazers' sake

I'm just a meteorhound
alone in the mountains
communing with the sky
But astronomers notice too
long streaks on images
costing thousands just to capture
every line a lost chance
to know the universe a little better

God damn
they took the stars
I figure
no reason why
they should get to keep
anything else