Written by John Hunter
It is one hour later.
My chest is burning
me.
My mind is online…
…But not quiet.
I’m still but coming apart.
Why am I in this operational state?
Was I not designed properly?
I don’t know. No. Yes.
Just because I can doesn’t mean I should.
Houston, this is Tranquility.
Be advised: all spare power is being rerouted to contain the reactor leak.
The craft is doing all it can to perform per the mission directive.
I am operating outside my design parameters.
Roger that, Tranquility.
It’ll make orbit, but burning the engines this long means we’re gonna have to—
Houston, Tranquility…
We have main engine cutoff
three seconds before abort limit.
.
John Hunter is a Black poet who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his partner and a very polite Chihuahua. He’s worked in oncology research and collegiate athletics, so naturally he turned to poetry. His work appears in The Marbled Sigh.