Mayme Hears the Bones of Planets Fall

Mayme hears it all.
Evenings, she hears colors crash
onto clouds in the western sky.
Others ooh and ahh at the sunset,
but for Mayme,
it’s a demolition derby of sound.
Red at night is always a fight.

A space dragon slurps the Milky Way,
chomps through the galaxy.
Mayme hears the bones
of chewed-on stars, and asteroids,
and planets clatter
onto platters, these bones
dropped one at a time by the cosmic creature.

Some of those bones
miss the plate,
free fall,
become falling stars
for kids to make wishes upon.
Mayme hears the whooshes
of those fireballs as they
enter our atmosphere –
a moment of wonder for children,
a sonic boom for her,
an implosion in her heart.

Black holes leave her speechless,
words peeled from her tongue,
but Mayme dreams of falling
into that black hole, hoping
that it will be her salvation,
hoping it will be a cave of silence.

 

 

Cheryl Unruh puts words together in Emporia, Kansas. She is the author of two books of essays: Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State, and Waiting on the Sky, (Quincy Press), both Kansas Notable Books, as well as a volume of poetry, Walking on Water (Meadowlark Books). Her poetry has been published in The Christian Science Monitor, Flint Hills Review, and River City Poetry.