The thought of becoming stardust
when you die
is a reassuring one.
Being strewn across millions of
light years seems exciting.
Witnessing stars being born,
planets forming life,
stars collapsing in on themselves
and becoming black holes.
It's appealing compared to
going to a gloomy underworld,
or worrying about a punishing hell,
who deserves to burn and who will become angels.
It wouldn't matter,
you'd be apart of the growing universe.

She sat in a rickety old rocking chair
on the porch of the even older house
looking across the grey lake.
Her nose was red from the cold air.
She rocked, humming a song
generations old
Her voice, husky with age

and she glanced at the
rocking chair adjacent to hers,
empty
the seat worn from constant use.

Looking back out across the lake
she smiled
and wiped a single tear from her ancient cheek.

I sometimes wonder
what it'd be like to go into
the ocean, and never come back.
To swim out and sink
and let your lungs fill
while your body convulsively
fights in a desperate attempt for air.
To feel yourself slowly slip away
and become part of the black cold salt water
bobbing with the current
decaying
little fish nipping my toes
but I'd be gone.

It was after dinner
so he picked up his guitar
and strummed a few chords
a G, a C, an A
and he hummed along
his voice deep and dark
and raspy
the firelight illuminated his face
in some places and
formed shadows in others
his strums picked up rhythm
and pretty soon he was singing
a song on death
and selling your soul to the devil
at the crossroads
the song ended with a final
strum on the ancient guitar
his eyes, closed
reliving memories from long ago

It's quite literally an escape.
A flickering red EXIT sign above a chipped
old doorway that leads from an unwanted
world into a new one.
That world could be anywhere from
the beautiful Appalachian mountains
to a completely different planet.
The future or the past.
It doesn't matter.

"Still-born...died during labor"*
He stood on the edge of the roof
of the tall department building.
Despair rang in his chest like an

empty bell. He swayed drunkenly.
"Still-born...died during labor"
His eyes were those of a dead man's,
tears leaking out of the corners.

His feet shuffled towards the edge.
His mouth hung open, his nose was
"Still-born...died during labor"
rubbed raw and covered in dry snot.

He looked down and smiled slightly.
Another half step, and he cast
his eyes upwards at the grey sky
"Still born...died during labor"

and jumped.

She stepped through the sand
tall sea grass grazed her pale legs
moonlight illuminated her white face
her blue eyes, the color of
a lake frozen over
her hair, black and dead
the sea called to her
it beckoned with rolling thunder
and jagged electricity
her toes reached the water
the ocean reared excitedly
goosebumps rose on every inch of her skin
raindrops bounced off the water
the water, now up to her knees
climbing higher, eager, by the inch
with every step she took
until it engulfed her entire body
cold, deep and black
it forced its way into her lungs
she smiled and the current
rocked her like a humming mother
until she felt herself fade away
until she was gone.
the ocean gently laid the body
on the beach
her dead eyes stared into
the starry night
the gentle smile forever played
on her pale lips