a riveder le stelle

The only thing I remember of AP Physics
is they day
we calculated
(assuming perfect
entropy)
the molecules
of air
we
breathe in
every time
we breathe
in
of the air
Caesar breathed out
with his last breath

Virtual space
renders us
into molecules
of new air
of zeros and ones
reconstituted
with the benevolent
biases
of the paradox
of fiction.

we are as real
as we trust
our technology
the Pirahã
only believe
in things they
have experienced
first hand
and have boldly
evaded the
charms of hundreds
of years of
the best sales
pitches
of missionaries.
“but if you never
met this Christ
yourself,
why do you believe
he is your friend?”

But we
members of the
an advanced society
we believe
many things
we see
online
and don’t see
like the fact
that we are
surrounded by
atoms
and
that we are made of
stars

                                LOVE REQUITED BUT
                                UNFULFILLED,
                                UNDER THE STARS,
                                SUKKEIEN GARDEN,
                                HIROSHIMA,
                                SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 1945,
                                12 HOURS BEFORE
                                THE BOMB

No one ever asks
what happened
before
Sunao Tsuboi
used to say
The night before
the bomb
Sunao
who had recently
been called to military service
met with his
sweetheart
they were horizontal
gazing perpendicularly
at the stars
their hands touched
for the first time
it was the happiest day
of his life.

We had spent three months
digitized
and reconstituted
within each
other’s minds
(our images)
until
the heart
constructed
a new story

and I flew out
to see you

I quarantined for five days
and waited to take
the test
While we
waited
you brought me
dinner
we ate
balanced
on opposite ends
of a bench
and when
it was time
for me to go back
to the hotel
through
the KN95
I heard you
whisper
“Would you like
to hold my hand?”

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