NATALIE SCHRIEFER: BREAKING UP WITH AN ASTROPHYSICIST

BREAKING UP WITH AN ASTROPHYSICIST

I.

Always we are hurtling

towards a breakup, a loss,

our atoms careening towards

an inevitable shattering.

A final fragmentation.

Time does not solve anything.

II. The Big Freeze

The predominant theory

is heat death, not death

by heat but the death of heat.

The universe expands forever

and the cosmos cool. We’ll frost

over like bits of comet. I’ll finger

the grain of the nightstand,

trace the wood in the dark,

while you sleep on the couch.

III. The Big Rip

Everything will be

shredded by dark matter:

galaxies, stars, planets,

even spacetime. We’ll be torn

to slivers too small to repair—

and I’ll spend hours cutting

photos, shearing out your

body, your hands, your face.

IV. The Big Bounce

If the universe started with a bang,

why can’t it end with one, too?

Expand expand expand and

then shatter, contract,

collapse—

and then explode

again, an eternal mood

swing vacillating between

our most recent blowout

and the walks we take,

hand in hand, guessing

the phase of the moon.

V. Vacuum Decay

We would be destroyed

instantaneously, ghosted by

the laws of physics—

the apartment empty,

echoing, the contents

of the closet spilled out

onto the floor. Stained

into the table is the ring

from your coffee cup—

the only thing left behind.

VI. Cosmic Uncertainty

Of course, what’s to say

our end can be predicted?

Theorizing and experiencing

are vastly different nebulae.

No matter what, eventually,

we end. Tonight I’ll lay

in the middle of the bed,

my head between our pillows.

This is a reset. An end. A beginning.

Maybe now I’ll finally sleep.

A Best of the Net nominee, Natalie Schriefer, M.F.A., is a bi/demi writer often grappling with sexuality, identity, and shame. She loves asking people about their fictional crushes (her most recent are Riza Hawkeye and Gamora). She works as a freelance journalist. Find her on X @schriefern1 or visit her website: natalieschriefer.com.