Your Planet Can Be Ours Too

Preface:

I wanted to explore planetary naming as a type of colonialism related to the "uncolonizable" realm of the universe. The idea of owning through naming isn't new, of course. But what gave me the idea to write poetry about this were various TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) classroom study review exercises. This idea of teaching naming and ownership to new students of English (some of whom might have gained mastery in their own country first) is accomplished through a structure of brainwashing, of controlling what and which type of English the student learns to heed, which to ignore, and which is of primary importance. Poetic language falls near the bottom, even after slang.