Two Pieces
Jennifer Jones
Cold Distant Fire
Erasure from The Tyger by William Blake
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry
In what distant
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make the
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry
Oh, you’re an astrophysicist, so you want to go to space?
previously published by what’s the theme zine in 2023
3 minutes until asphyxiation,
which is a blessing
compared to the bends.
Rapid decompression
leads to arterial gas embolism,
dizziness, confusion, urinary incontinence.
You might wet yourself
as the gasses boil out of bodily fluids.
All of that assumes you make it to the vacuum,
aboard an explosive device contained
in aluminum – a coke can of nightmares.
At least most catastrophic failures go quick.
Micrometeorites, sand sized bullets,
penetrate hulls, suits, with no atmosphere
nothing stops these projectiles.
Again, this is keeping within 300
million miles of sweet Earth:
just a quick trip to the Moon.
Blue giant stars roil at 35,000 degrees.
Neutron stars spin fast enough to separate your solids from liquid
like a terrible centrifuge.
And,
everyone’s favorite,
black holes stretch your body like taffy,
jovially called spaghettification,
before your string-like bits
incinerate inside the event horizon.
No thanks, I'll stay home.
Jennifer Jones, in no particular order, is a nerd, scientist, poet, wife, and mother. She teaches college level Astronomy in Colorado and enjoys blending her love of science with her love of poetry. Jennifer has anxiety, depression, and hearing loss, which influences her writing. Her twitter handle is @JenRMJones.