under a star called sun
i wake up
The sun gently caresses my face
and for a second
i believe im back on earth
i make myself some coffee
and you’d laugh if i said
it never tastes as good as the
ones you get
from the cafes back home
i would turn back and go home
but
the trajectory of this ship is
unchanging
i check on the plants
in the greenhouse
i check for bugs
i check the moisture of the soil
i check the dust on the leaves
And when no one’s around
i hum to them
in a normal message
i’d be saying shit like
how’s it going
what’s new
so when are you finally gonna move to melbourne
im so excited to see you again
oh atlas
holds up the firmament
and endures
one day at a time
i remember when i first
heard the news
i woke up,
earlier than usual
and i get a message from our friend
and my phone freezes
and one could attribute this to
planned obsolescence
but maybe, maybe, maybe...
you know, there’s a room
on this ship
(i wont tell you how it works)
i can replay the moment
i last saw you
over and over and over and over
it was late morning on a
perfectly ordinary august day
we were meeting up for brunch
at a cafe close to mine
a line up of friends
i only see occasionally
i think you ordered
a fancy sandwich
or maybe just a salad
then we sat in the park and
talked for a while
you had to get going
meeting another friend
you stepped on the 19 tram
to north coburg and smiled
framed between
the pneumatic doors
beautiful under
the fluorescent light
you said see you next time
was it sunny or cloudy that day?
what did you order?
what did we talk about?
what did your voice sound like?
what was the expression on your
face when we said goodbye?
the memory gets corrupted with
each new iteration of it
like a wave washing over
writings on sand
over and over
like a cassette tape played
over and over
like a jpeg saved over and over
you know what i’m talking about
you’d laugh about this
comparison too
the deep fried meme of memory
i think it’s funny too
but one day the memory
will be so distorted
that i won’t get to see you
anymore
i wish i had made
more of an effort to remember
i wish i had taken more photos
when a perfectly ordinary day
turns into
a perfectly extraordinary day
who do you blame for
misfiling a memory
in the file cabinets
of your brain?
The trajectory of this ship
is unchanging
and if nothing else
i must cherish the approximate
oh atlas
holds up our poisoned world
and endures
once more
(whispering)
and im writing this
and i know im a visual person
and it’s not like
you’ll write back
from the far edges
of outer space
but one day i’ll get there
and i’ll hug you
and i’ll say i missed you
and i’ll say i love you
until then
i check on the plants
in the greenhouse
i check for bugs
i check the moisture of the soil
i check the dust on the leaves
And when no one’s around
i hum to them
SEND MESSAGE?
>YES
NO