Michael Hammerle
We do it with our clothes on
so there’s dignity.
We do it buck-naked
in frigid water.
We do it too young
where our parents can’t find us.
We do it for attention.
We do it knowing it’s the last time.
Hear my last precious thought:
I will take a journey
through a vacuum
because I choose to.
I’m not alone.
There is good conversation.
You are with me.
All smiles.
I can see us looking back
on Jupiter; and Earth
is now like a flint strike in the dark
of a cupped hand.
Say I do it first
this is where I’ll be.
***
Michael Hammerle is pursuing his MFA at Bennington College. He holds a BA in English, cum laude, from the University of Florida. His fiction has been published in The Best Small Fictions 2017 selected by Amy Hempel. His prose and poetry have been published or are forthcoming in New World Writing, Chicago Literati, After the Pause, The Sandy River Review, The Matador Review, and many more magazines. He lives and writes in Gainesville, FL.