Poetry
three
It’s nice to finish a sentence.
For a while today, I wasn’t sure if I was awake. I snapped my fingers, pinched myself,
made sure I knew where I was. Checked the street signs. No use. I felt like I was
watching what I was seeing. I kept walking near the highway, watching the cars. There
was nowhere to sit down. A store was by the highway that only sold different sizes of
metal pipes. People were walking away from the store carrying these big long metal
pipes. I circled back three times to watch people carrying pipes. I like to watch people
and the space they occupy. How they are where they are. The last time I circled, a man
sitting on a stoop said to his phone “hold on” and then told me “don’t look so sad!”
Because I felt like I wasn’t where I was, I watched the pipes. Then I ate pizza.
I can see Mars
I’m pretty sure
it’s Mars
I can see it
a red star
but
a planet
Mars
It’s still there!
For days
not a plane
three days
at least
not moving.
Mars is there.
It’s really
there.
I’ve been
watching it
that red
dot is Mars
for days
it stays.
I hear
other people
talk about it
voices
Definitely
MARS.
My birthday
comes and goes
I care more
than I should
I was overdue
at birth
steam
came off
Will mars
still be there
with its red
glow
in the sky?
That dot.
I must remember
look for mars
on my birthday
Will I see
a red
dot
in the
sky?
What if I’m
the only alien
on the planet?
What if
I’m really
from mars?
The last
Martian
gazing
at my
former planet
missing home
looking
up?
She’s cool
She waves thank you
to the garbage bin