the glow-in-the-dark stars on my wall are brighter than my ambitions, vicodin washes down with stone cold fear, and mercury is in retrograde- not that we felt the need to communicate. tiny planets on a string, we danced in the orbit that we shared. you had misgivings, told me pluto never made it around the sun, not even once. but earth created a moon with her soulmate. mercury doesn't return direct until february 11th; by then paracetamol and hydrocodone will have passed. opiates and human beings both sources of anxiety but i don't mind drowning in them both.