Space Exploration || by Courtney LeBlanc

Space Exploration

for MM

What was it about you that pulled

me in, that led us to orbit

one another like drunk planets –

uncertain if we should proceed

but unable to stop ourselves.

Where were we the first time we

touched? Your car in the back

of the airport parking lot,

furtive like teenagers, as planes

launched into the sky.

I’d grown invisible in my own

home, like Pluto, downgraded

and removed from lists

of importance. But you held me

up like I was the goddamned sun

and you were grateful for any ray

of light. When we stood in the office’s

narrow kitchen, used the small

space as an excuse to press

against one another, you

whispered in my ear, your words

marking constellations on my

skin, a celestial map you would

trace with your fingers. We

pushed forward, pushed

our luck, ignored the warning

signs – we knew we would

collide and crash back to earth,

didn’t we? That after the rocket

of orgasm, reality would be waiting.

There was no control center

to guide us back, no astronaut

suit to wear as we walked forward,

our paths diverging – you falling back

into the orbit of your life and me

walking into the great unknown,

looking for an existence on an empty

planet that no longer included you.

MEET THE POET:

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the full length collections Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart (Riot in Your Throat) and Beautiful & Full of Monsters (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press). She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning. Read her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79.