magnet

∴ it’s 2006
and I’ll never forget the day
when my innocence was taken
shockingly away

why? what happened?
it can’t be true
a dwarf planet—what?
Neil deGrass Tyson who?

i’m going there tomorrow night
and on my very own
i’m going to Pluto
gonna build a little home

i’ll construct a ship propelled by magnets
and launch myself to space
nothing you can do to stop me
i must get started, post haste

2847 magnets needed?
180,000 hours away?

but wait
perhaps it’s all a bit too grand
a journey to an ex-planet
may not go as planned

yet Pluto’s allure
still grips my soul
in the not so faraway time
let’s make it our goal ∴¹²

1. While currently beyond our technological capabilities and impractical to consider, breaking Earth’s orbit would hypothetically require, a minimum of, 2847 neodymium magnets. ↩︎
2. I had the pleasure of meeting Neil deGrasse Tyson while working for Blackside, Inc. on a documentary series titled “Breakthrough”. I did not hold NDT responsible for the reclassification of Pluto then, and I still don’t hold him responsible for it now. lol ↩︎