coral on mars

Poem by Marisca Pichette

they’ve found coral on mars

only it isn’t—

instead, petrified river silt

enduring longer than the rocks that made it;

dusty crystals covered

in martian sand;

there are many theories

of what really birthed the structure

we sent back

through space.

but they found it, you know—

coral on mars

& no matter what name they give it

I know it lived once

maybe in mud

maybe in starlight

maybe in the shallows of a desiccated sea

it had a reef of its own

& now only dry ghosts

remain.