Bolt Down the Universe
by Arlene Tribbia
They smoked American Spirits, played Black Jack, drank vodka & split cans of White Claw
after midnight their prayers floated off to Rome or Milan along with wishes to win
into a time before the stars went falling
Someone says: Who’s dealing out these wild cards for my life & why?
She says: I read my horoscope every day now
She wears: fuchsia nail polish from Ecuador
She carries: a holy card for sweetness & luck in her heart pocket
They say: summer fevers & even longer coughs are going around
They say: hearts get broken when you least expect
They learn: money loves speed, that’s how it leaves
We carry: our visions and tricks for how to fall asleep
We can’t let go: yet
She says: how will we know when it’s time?
They say: nobody knows anything for sure
She says: the Doomsday Clock
Everybody has something to deal with now
They say: doppelgangers keep diaries of what we do
They say: no one knows if the AIs will love
She laughs: they say the same thing about us
We all ask: who’s shuffling the cards?
Who wants to deal?
Nobody wants to deal
She wears: her heart on her sleeve under a recycled polyester sweater
They say: billionaires are buying celestial land rights
She says: in my texts, words are nevr spelled right
They say: nothing’s going to be spelled out for you
We learn: the moon needs to be bolted down in the universe now
But nobody knows how
Online they’re raising money for a Bolt Down the Universe fund
She says: you can’t save an accidental moon from moving back into the darkness
We learn: when one moon closes a door, another opens a window
where a little girl sits in a corner opening stars
We sleep: in our own moon
lit
Arlene Tribbia is a writer and artist. Stories of hers have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her work has been published widely as well as internationally. She often writes poetry and fiction about otherworldly beings because she's fond of creating characters who work to solve the larger cosmic, comic, and philosophical riddles of the universe.
