S P A C E   J U N K
  {A Tale of Two Odysseys}

Thirty-thousand objects    
and growing
they're all up there    
waiting…
a great orbiting space-fill 
trapped in gravity's belt
when randomly, one near-earth orbit decays
free-falls    
friction co-efficient passes critical
bursts into fire ball
breaks up in a blossom of hot tentacles
showers molten debris down
into a receptive blue-green sea

the fizzling hisses of snuffed out heat in salty waves
the only sound heard by the only sentient presence:
a lone humpback rolling over on its back, 
eyes skyward, its perfect idle interrupted
while further below a hungry grouper gulps
at descending carbonized flakes   then regurgitates
and the ever-disintegrating specks  
continue their free-fall in liquid space
joining the silent dead-matter rain
on their way to the abyss

Or perhaps
some random shard of hard ware 
escapes the incinerating fall
lands with unremarkable impact
upon a seldom tread equatorial beachhead
an island, possibly, formerly untouched by global disposability
and some sole survivor or wondering out-caste
scouring for tinder to feed his needed fire
finds the titanium transistor 
amongst the dried-up dulce, driftwood, and sand
and turning it over in his hand
perplexed by its function
a vision of fantastic origin flits through his mind
then dissolves away in useless reverie
and salted thirst

He pauses there    at the upper tidal mark
lifts a makeshift flask to his lips   drinks reverently
eyes close    open     to a sinking sun's ray
glinting off the shining bauble
bejeweled upon his palm like an infant star
and he walks out onto the rocks
twining a husk-fiber string with shark tooth hook
‘round the center of the thing
and casts it into a provident sea 

Michael Ricciardi
2001