by Stephen Kampa

           We can say with fairly high
           confidence, there must be
           something contributing to this
           white space. What monsters
           might be lurking there?
—Dr. Chris Polly, physicist

What monsters might be lurking there,
The expert said. We don’t yet know.
He spoke as though we couldn’t bear

To see how deep the mysteries go,
To ink new regions on our maps.
The expert said we don’t yet know

Why data went awry. Perhaps
We ought to celebrate the chance
To ink new regions on our maps,

But monsters haunt our least advance.
What’s so wrong with being wrong?
We ought to celebrate. The chance

To make it big has come along—
There’s more! That expert should review
What’s so wrong with being wrong,

How briefly something can be true.
There’s more that expert should review:
He spoke as though we couldn’t bear
What monsters might be lurking there.

Photo by Sheldon Liu on Unsplash