poem
Volume 31, Number 1

Opening the Previously Untouched Apollo 17 Moon Rock Sample

I pictured scientists 50 years ago
saving, for future research,
a moon rock
from the Apollo 17 mission collection
because they knew
we would be better equipped to study it
later.

This morning on Facebook,
as new scientists opened that rock,
my friend’s brother’s aunt adamantly announced
that apple cider vinegar
was the cure for all cancers,
which she discovered from casual online reading
and not by studying the moon rock
set aside five decades ago
by those with a faith
that future humans
would still have hearts
with which they pursued the truth.


—Vicki L. Wilson