(After Ani Liu’s speculation on a future where some of us might embark on a one-way trip to space)
We need not speculate—
Seven days ago, when I was launched, untrained,
from the universe we built for each other,
you left behind two unwashed shirts in my closet.
I took one to bed, dreaming of orbits we will never complete,
mapping the gravitational fields where you once lay.
The other, a thinning atmosphere
against the vacuum of forgetting,
I wear into the world
until your scent burns on re-entry.
Every day, a light-year into space between us.
*Inspired by the art installation “Olfactory Time Capsule for Earthly Memories” by Ani Liu,
part of the exhibition Space City: Art in the Age of Artemis
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