Inklings 2021

AN ASTRONAUT’S WISH Megan Diston Is it so bad that I want to look towards the sky? Is it so bad that I want to see the stars burn the wick of their candles down, to see the wax drip and make constellations out of their dying wishes on the backdrop of black? Is it so bad that I want to see the wisps of nebulae slowly drift across the void, the smoke from each candle carried by the breath of nothingness? Is it so bad that I want to see the big, round embers, dying and fresh, that come to rest around the many drifting, burning lights? Is it so bad that I want to see it? See it without the dark glass of a helmet obstructing the view from my naked eye? Will then the space around me, choose to claim me? Will I be fortunate enough to become a candle? Will I be fortunate enough for what I leave behind to shimmer? Will I die? Will I shine? REFLECTION Catie Tohulka 26