Questions of Ownership
Who owns the moon? The stiff flag
points its arbitrary direction, windless.
Until they're smacked by incidental chunks
of deep space real estate, the moon boot prints remain.
Who owns the moon? What title search
could ever make a claim?
But were the premiums high enough,
Lloyds might write a policy
protecting you against the loss
to any counter claim.
Until you circle the pale companion
with armed satellites, no one
owns the moon. And were
there satellites around the satellite,
what greater swarm of weaponry
might come along to stake a higher claim?
What is our history but one
long bloody argument
over metes and bounds, receipts,
patents, copyrights, certificates of title?
Yours is what you claim
with force enough to hold.
points its arbitrary direction, windless.
Until they're smacked by incidental chunks
of deep space real estate, the moon boot prints remain.
Who owns the moon? What title search
could ever make a claim?
But were the premiums high enough,
Lloyds might write a policy
protecting you against the loss
to any counter claim.
Until you circle the pale companion
with armed satellites, no one
owns the moon. And were
there satellites around the satellite,
what greater swarm of weaponry
might come along to stake a higher claim?
What is our history but one
long bloody argument
over metes and bounds, receipts,
patents, copyrights, certificates of title?
Yours is what you claim
with force enough to hold.
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Author's Note
Property becomes destiny
Other stories by Gary Hardaway
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We put the first flag there. All this time I thought we owned it.
“With force enough to hold.”
My crazy cousin told me we owned the oil in Iraq because the Iraqis couldn't get it out of the ground on their own.
Go figure.
I've often thought the concept of ownership was strange. Native Americans made treaties with the white settlers having a completely different idea of "ownership." This led to obvious problems. Capitalist real estate is exclusionary. The Native American cultures did not have this concept.
Nobody owns anything. We rent it until we die. *
"What is our history but one
long bloody argument..."
Great line. Fav.
Pretty much. Too bad the battles we have over things lead into some even uglier problems.*
Good work, Gary. Great premise. I like. *
Thank you, Gloria, Steve, John O., John R., Jake, Amanda, and Sam. I am grateful for the readings and notes. I wonder if anyone has ever studied and reported the history of property?
"Yours is what you claim
with force enough to hold."
Excellent.
Thank you, Bill.
Who owns the moon? The same countries that claim to own Antarctica? Thought provoking piece Gary! Well done! *
The last three stanzas read like a poem within a poem. Great.