If only I lived in a house of paper
thin enough to let the air in
In the heat haze I become smaller,
less present, frequently nocturnal
I’ve never been to another planet, but when I read about the oppressive atmosphere of Venus I imagine it like this.
It’s not such a foreign concept
being crushed by the very air
So thick, heavy, stifling,
and unbent to human wills
I imagine being an astronaut as I sit by the screen door. Just an intrepid explorer, braving the brutal heat, hoping for a breeze.
I wonder what’s out there, distant
layers of air and gas and fear and hope away
Maybe they’re vicious, hostile places
but so is this.
Samir Knego is a writer and artist with work in Living Artists Magazine, Pollen, dubble, and elsewhere. He’s on the editorial team at Decolonial Passage and lives in North Carolina with a bright green wheelchair and a little black dog. Find him on twitter/instagram @SamirKnego
Telescope and Venus illustrations by C.B. Auder.
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