Tuesday poem #518 : Brad Aaron Modlin : To the Astronaut Who Hopes Life on Another Planet Will Be More Bearable

 

 

As in, if the people there like everyone, even
the ones they are not related to, if they like
strangers and budding plants, like to hum the songs
in each other’s heads, like food
too much to chew it, and too much not
to share, if they like to be alive
more than to bomb or be bombed, like
visitors, like thirst, like letting it last
ten extra minutes to boost the thrill of water,
brush their mouths with baking soda
so their next drink tastes sweet, if their games
do not name winners and losers, if no
one must deadbolt a door behind them in fear,
if no child or adult hears, I did not invite you
to my party, if people do not exchange
paper and say, This paper is worth
so many’s unhappiness, if no
night outlasts a day, if no
one oversleeps for sadness, or if
they do, someone—it’s a network
better than any antiquated phone tree—         
lies atop the quilt beside the sleeper and waits,
matching their inhales and exhales,
            and no one wakes alone.   

So far away and so down
here, we’re all rooting for you,
astronaut. We squint toward your ship,
which must be—must be—
traveling somewhere overhead.
We rise from these creaky beds
in our empty rooms
and stretch the curtains wide.

 

 

 

 

Brad Aaron Modlin’s poetry has been the text for orchestral scores; the springboard for an NYC art exhibition; and the focus of both an episode of The Slowdown with U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón and the premier episode of Poetry Unbound from public radio’s On Being Studios. Brad’s book Everyone at This Party Has Two Names won The Cowles Poetry Prize and features the poem “What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade.”

“To the Astronaut Who Hopes Life on Another Planet Will Be More Bearable,” was a finalist in the CBC Poetry Prize (cbc.ca) and is part of his next manuscript. Brad has participated in residencies with the Banff Centre, Artscape Toronto Island, and Biophilium in Gatineau. He wrote/read/sang a poem for a concert with Symphony Nova Scotia and stayed on key. A creative writing professor, he teaches/learns with undergraduate and graduate students. BradAaronModlin.com

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan