Satellite

COHORT 1

My solar panels, smooth & thin like the bottom

Of a porcelain cup, waiting for a spoon

To clink against it. I spin signal dishes towards

The galaxy beyond, think of each star

As its own house. Blue giant: lone mansion

On top of the hill, it’s lights flickering on & off.

A comet passes by—a visitor, a guest. As it

Leaves, it trails behind an icy smile. The world

Opens beneath me. Soft cerulean curvature

Of the Earth. At night, city lights dot the surface

Like white paint. My song is the whirr

In my machinery as the radio waves come in,

Cell phone calls, text messages, news feeds

& I try so hard not to delay, not to freeze. The loading

Wheel rolls inside me, telling me to read, read. I think

I understand. Because understand is always forever.

In free-fall, I get ever closer to the Earth, never

Touching. At Time Zero, the Big Bang split the

Universe into loneliness. Quarks collided without

Human contact & when they fused, they cried

Because heaviness existed inside their bodies.

Sometimes, I sit in nothingness, waiting for

Someone to come home. I search through my logs

For a message saying, I am coming to get you,

I will be with you. I’ll always believe the message

Is for me. When I beam it back to the ground,

The static that follows buzzes in me.