neutron star, by Helen Hernandez

here I am

stowed away at the edge of the universe,

so that you can be at the center.

all my neighbors are dead,

faint lights empty

light years away.

every day I look at their corpses.

sometimes I speak

and hope they’ll talk back.

ever since my birth,

 I’ve been waiting for my death;

maybe I’ll supernova,

or fade out into a cold, dwarf star.

all this energy I’m spitting out

will one day kill me,

and there’s nobody

to talk to out here except

dark matter.

I’m huge

and bright

and lonely.

your sun is a speck compared to me;

my light is hot enough to incinerate your fragile human body

but god

I just want to chat and share a bag of chips.