Points Made Fast Asleep

By Jacqueline Modugno

There is something beyond the organic
And only when we realize, do we shrink from the sky
[We collapse into ourselves]
Drawing up blankets
To shield from the ether

[Questions that ring without answer]

So now I ask:

Who [on Earth]
decided that a star should have 5 points?
Two photonic arms
Two legs
And a head
Unimaginable fuel condensed to human form
Everything that escapes us, compressed

And he lets gravity take him
[When work threatens what luminescence is left]
And she entertains the thought of embraces
[to outshine reminders of death]
And their breathing falls in line with the minute hand
But they all fall asleep

With

Their

Arms

Outstretched

And all the sheets are out of reach
When entropy pulls them out of bounds
To the chasms of air-conditioned-smooth
-hardwood floors
That sinking, inky plane where they sleep now

Yes, if you were there, you’d hear light breathe
With its arms outstretched,
And no concern of quantity
[Yesterday’s wine]
[has already worn off]
[Tomorrow’s coffee]
[is not enough]
For where it sleeps, there is no need
To idle on interests in store
But even in that latent plane
Where the limitless succeeds, again and again

It is somehow, always,
asking
for
more
I called out into my room, asking What is it all for

But 4:00 am blinked in no response
And there was only a glass of water to reassure
And I drank and I drank
Until I was full
I drank as if each sip could stretch time
But the waterline reached the bottom
[Sparked existentialism sequestered]
And I returned to the darkness as if it were mine

And now,
I’d like to rest in watered-down salt
And let the brine take back
every. single. molecule.

That animates my form
Be the echinoderm looking up
[Allow the spears of light cast down from the atmosphere
to be my emerging galaxy]
from that restful ocean floor

And

I

Want To

Be

A Star

We all become one, eventually

We all become one, for sure.