Today I feel…
A World Apart
Rachel Shiyah-Satullo (2017)
(Poem from episode 3)

I cannot catch a falling star 
but I can catch a cold
and hold it in my orbit
for such time it's unforetold.

I cannot take one small step 
without it feeling miles
and with this leap of magnitude 
I'm bound for strange exile

To brave new dimensions 
where life has been eclipsed 
by a waxing illness umbra
in syzygy affixed-

with ever present pulsars in galaxies of pain, 
colliding, queasy, shifting cores of alien terrain, 

a volatile viscosity of air where toxins brew-so nebular in origin, its verity askew.

This space I occupy is a world in parallax; 
perturbed by meteoric flares, invisible impacts.

Without escape velocity 
thoughts vacuum into dust 
but I reside a space cadet 
avoiding wanderlust

for my low kinetic energy 
of burned out satellite 
cannot defy this gravity-
I've
no fuel
left for flight.

But I am made of stardust
and this atmosphere of woe 
re-forms exploded nova shards 
to fuel a cosmic glow.

So I evolve a lifeform in this symptom constellation- 
a denizen who hunts for love amid the aberration.

And though I dip in darkness, 
I can scoop up light.

My brain is wider than the sky
so I can dwell here in
the wonder how such falling stars 
hold twinkle deep within.