'Collapse' / 'Longing'

Photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

Collapse

We arrived in sunlight and departed in sunlight,

the summer sky turning pink, turning blue, purple,

black. Summer of meteors and shooting stars.

A collision of stars can cause a black hole – they sink

to the center of the galaxy: a black hole is anything but

empty space.

We waited till nightfall to touch, the daylight hours

spooled out before us, waited for the stars to blink

into existence. The heat of the day still radiated off

our bodies, the thin crust of sweat still clung to our skin.

Lying on our backs, we searched the sky for the shooting stars,

I longed for the tenor of your voice to break the night’s

silence. When Orion appeared, I moved my mouth

to yours, fell into you.

The pressure of one body against another: summer,

waxed and honeyed. Seeking out constellations

and your skin. Thinking about the mystery of black

holes, how you too are beautiful and deadly

and unknown till now.

The bonfire we built dies, the smoke reminding

me of that last, long summer: the kittens born

too early, my sister and I still running like children

through the tall grass, even as my breasts began

to bud. The sky was drinkable, dazzling, white

and we didn’t know that night our house would

burn. If we had would we remember the sun