Middle Finger to the Sky

in Florence, Italy,
the Museo Galileo
houses the middle finger of
Galileo Galilei---
enclosed in a glass case &
sticking upright at the sky,
it not-so-subtly signifies
the wonder that came in
insisting that the sky did not
abide by the dogmatic assertions
made in the big fat work of fiction---
instead,
following in the footsteps of
Philolaus, Heraclides Ponticus,
Aristarchus of Samos, Hypatia,
Ptolemy & Copernicus,
Mr. Galilei defended the idea that
this little rock we all reside on,
revolved around the sun &
not the other way around, as the
cunning catholic church
wanted us all to believe---
and though he was found
by the Inquisition to be
“suspect of heresy,”
forced to recant all that
he had said &
afterward was forced into house arrest
for the remainder of his day
on the condition that he would
read the psalms specific to him being a
bad little boy,
he is regarded as “the father of
modern science, physics & astronomy” &
is revered by anyone who seeks truth
through rigorous experiment &
the accumulation of evidence.