Curve Waves

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.

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“This poem was inspired by eerie space sounds recorded and released by NASA, on which a particular recording of light curve waves was captured. The recording reminded me of a rapid heartbeat such that, when I listened to it, I thought of time, space, and love, and any other emotions that increase our heartbeat. The recording helped me shape the poem in the way it is, like a heartbeat on the monitor or a polygraph.”
—Boderra Joe