LoveStory

By David McAllister

outer space seems always empty

when you are an asteroid built

with a soul of ice / I drift through blindness

never attaching myself to any belt

where my sisters & brothers bedazzle some sun

not ever believing I could fall through fire

for just any orb with water or liquid gas

but then I came across you earth my earth

radiant with rock, water & even the rarity

plastic has spread through your seas

So I fell &

your pull was so intense my soul

melted into water at last / freed

from the icy pull of a strait trajectory

I found gravity's fire was pure

ecstasy for hard-rocks to burn off in

but then too close I came too close

& saw the ugliness within a pretty little world

your atmosphere earth has grown fat

with unbreathable gasses & all your glittering lights

are pulling round & polluting all the rest

your scars run deep

deeper than I care to fall to reach your core

& all of a sudden I feel

the tug of another at my particles

your moon on your own ellipse

has caught me in his field

he is pale bumpy & beautiful

with no atmosphere at all

& now I find I am caught between the two

a perfect place between earth & moon

a perfect place of indecision

a perfect place where all force cancels

& I am left with a melted soul

McAllister David works at Old Black Bear Brewing Company. He studies physics academically and literature recreationally. He is a member of the local arts community Outloud HSV, where he performs his poetry. His poem 'The Atom & the Acrobat' appeared in 'Out Loud HSV, a Year in Review 2018.'