At the planetarium



The universe pours out

in front of us so rapidly

it’s easy to think it unreal.

Gabby grabs my hand, gulps



is this really happening?

Outwardly assuring her it’s just

a show & we were not drifting

somewhere in the vastness of



time & space, the unimportance

of our smallness scares me too—

we only have what we have, nothing

more, only less; still we waste



everything created over millennia

on a scenic drive across the country.

How pointless to do anything but lay

down to watch the stars as we revolve.



Somewhere dark, questions we can’t

imagine are being formed. To know

without knowing, to just do—

migration; plants; the moon.




Caili Wilk resides in California, and grew up in Thatcher's England.