The Half-Life of Plastic
We have slept with death all our lives.
It will grind out its graceless victory.
—Jack Gilbert
While new planets are growing
old stars are dying
and I’m listening to heartbeats
that want the half-life of plastic
Before I am reconceived
I want to cradle warm smiles
I want to see how heavy
the edge of heaven is
But gravity is dry heaving in a coffin of sky
and scientists watch with robotic gasps
This is not a formula
I am not a flame screaming burn
The air is full of chemicals
I am full of chemicals
and I will be failed by membranes and rhetoric
fighting test tubes and stanzas
as I wait to walk into shadows
I wait to be inside things I’ll never know
Originally appeared in Antique Children
