My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants

for Jill

Before the recent conference on Pluto’s status
a planet appeared beyond number nine, not to be seen again.

Since then, Pluto’s been demoted
from full-fledged to dwarf planet;

and a planet, heretofore undefined,

is any object in orbit around the Sun
that is dominant in its immediate neighborhood

though from my view point
if a body is not considered a planet

then it shouldn’t be called a dwarf planet.
It should have its own category altogether.

(Maybe rockette
since scientists are so enamored of female names.)

Thankfully, we needn’t wait for the definition of a dwarf planet —
something about self-gravity, rigid body forces, and planetesimals.

But what in the world is a planetesimal
and how to mourn the loss of my Elegant Mother?

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