PLANET X by Preston Smith

Sometimes I want good days to end

before they can be outsourced

to the unknown—he is enigmatic,

beguiled at the fear I wear

at night, he appears alone &

never cries—and why would he?

The mirror wouldn’t show

so he never cries under timid stars,

never cries like me.

In night’s throes I wonder

who governs god when the sun sets

& who let Earth be a heartbreaker.

Out of all my earthly experiences,

being human is the worst—

a blood bath on a cold night

& even Earth knows how it feels

for skin to break under the slightest

pressure. When he takes me to his home

on Planet X, so does he.