a hole
a floating rib
an admirer’s shadow
ribs with grief
a taper hall
an empty street
a black hole
named love
its low density
like clouds, dust, cosmic ray
at the center of the milky way
thousands of them
i bet it hurts
your lungs
as air expands
tears through tissue
you inhale all the oxygen
from us in fifteen seconds
who can dust your bones?
time is infinite
i wish upon stars
not old enough for light to reach
wish upon a name
to leave your lips as print
even moon rocks crumble
zero point zero four inches
a million years
call it what it feels like
love
space junk
a dirty collision
a chain reaction
a thick cloud of debris
traveling fast
Copyright © 2022 by Boderra Joe. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 11, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.