force to be reckoned with
by Katherine Cipriano
why take it slow,
when we can get carried away in stead?
blasting into the stratosphere,
soon to exceed the speed of light itself.
if the faster an object moves,
the slower time passes,
why not move and never cease,
our momentum only to exponentially increase,
for i want every second with you
to resemble stillness,
transcending time into your arms.
and once we go, i promise we won't stop
for an object in motion stays in motion
and i want to linger in motion with you.
there is no color in the space between us,
just a phenomenon so resilient,
it continues to intertwine your soul with mine.
and by my calculations,
the velocity of you and me,
cannot be deterred
by any range of extinction,
ice age or seismic activity.
when you asked "do you think about this stuff?"
i should have told you
i think about the electromagnetic current
that draws your lips to mine,
the algorithmic recipe of oxytocin
and serotonin sending my stomach into knots.
i think about ellipses versus circles,
each a loop never ending;
how intrinsically connected we are
to our world and those far beyond this one.
i think about how on an infinitesimal speck
floating amongst countless galaxies,
suspended in the sun's brilliant orbit,
on the very same planet,
we ended up existing simultaneously,
composed of the very same
subatomic puzzle pieces,
each an exquisite expression of the universe,
we so desperately try to make sense of.
and of that which will never make sense -
i think about that too.
questions called out into the universe
we don't yet have the answers to -
the very same you courageously
and relentlessly pursue.
i think about how it must infuriate you
in this moment,
when there's no equation to solve
or theorem to discover,
no universal law
with which to be measured,
no data observed,
extracted, recorded, or debated
that could best explain the answer to
a hypothesis long overlooked:
will our hearts survive
when we finally collide?