Alien civilizations 
had to decide whether 
to pursue a dream 
of touring the universe  
with ever more powerful machines
or to cut back and go green.

Those that went in 
for spaceships and laser weapons 
can’t be observed
by our technology
because, inevitably,
they blew themselves up.

The ones that went inward
and stopped exploring
are invisible to us
because they don’t 
broadcast energy 
into the reaches of space.

The way our brains 
are hard-wired
makes deciding 
on one of these options
a more difficult matter
than you might think.

Chris Bullard is a retired judge who lives in Philadelphia, PA. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.F.A. from Wilkes University. Grey Book Press published Continued, a poetry chapbook, in 2020 and Moonstone Press published Going Peaceably to the Obsidian Knife, a chapbook of environmentally themed poetry in 2021. Main Street Rag released his poetry chapbook, Florida Man, this year.