cardiogrammar

instead of a kiss-o-gram,
perhaps a cardiogram?
my heart, written out
as stuttering toothed calligraphy, worn
on a slip of sleeve
for you to hold
and fold
up in your chest
pocket, where it maps
the gone-but-not-forgotten
beats of my excited muscle
that promised, in its time
dilating, diastolic way
to stay, to stay

Venus as momenti mori

according to NASA
Venus may have had a shallow
water ocean and habitable surface clime
for up to two billion years

which is a very long time

long enough for geochemistry
to become biochemistry
to become cells
become organs
become "intelligent"

i like to think
that intelligent beings did roam on Venus
made languages and tools
built empires and tech
but then fucked it all up
and turned the planet into a dusty wasteland
having got carried away
by inclinations for novelty
and convenience
and the desire for power

so i think that, perhaps
when we look to the stars
and see Venus, fossil-like
alarmingly bright in the night
that we might be looking
our fate in the face
a world-sized skull
that stares back at us
with ocean-sized eyes

but don't cry
it's only the end of a world