ANTIQUARIAN

Fragments of this short stack
Were first discovered in
The forgotten notebooks
Of an unknown antiquarian…

One hundred and twenty-four
Light years from planet Earth
The chemical fingerprints of
Alien biological activity

Were first discovered ‘midst
The pullulating constellations
Of the known Universe: Dimethyl
Sulfide and Dimethyl Disulfide.

Phantom fragments, or building
Blocks adventitiously disposed
On Planet K2–18b
As surreptitious signs of Life.

Chemicals associated on Earth
With viridian marine plankton
Which nourishes crustaceans
Cetaceans and jellyfish too.

Ever in search of Signs of Life
Ever disdainful of the signifiers all around
Lost in the detritus of our ghosted planet:
Plumskin, Ploshskin, Pelican jill.