Eco-Conscious Aubade with Starshine

I should explain: cosmic rays 
might be responsible 
for the 2009 Toyota recall. 
In a word, supernovae 
expel particles that could 
have interfered with these vehicles’ 
circuits, causing sudden, 
uncontrollable acceleration. 
I’ll tell it to you straight: 
stars were murdering eco-conscious, 
hybrid-driving human beings. 
Enter sun 
through linen curtains and I thought 
I would love, despite 
any number of abstractions
that keep me out of the body, 
keep fingers dripping 
with antibacterial soaps.
I thought 
today would be the day to respond 
in kind to joy 
like that joy my nephews bring 
into the morning—
my nephews 
with frogs on their heads, 
who dive for torpedoes in the pool—
but only before we saw Earth’s 
last great beasts 
trained to splash spectators 
in the front rows, 
before disgruntled families
in the arena 
bemoaned their orca-soaked cell phones 
despite
what were obvious fair warnings, 
before I waited to join edgewise 
your conversation 
and when I finally spoke, 
you left the room. Listen: 
the remote-controlled fan’s 
high-pitched hum 
that early at dawn
was already competing with the quiet moan 
of commuters and stars 
were dead and set 
on taking us fuckers down.

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Zach Linge (pronouns they/them) is the Editor-in-Chief of The Southeast Review and a PhD student in Poetry at Florida State University. Linge’s publications include poems in Poetry Magazine, The Journal, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, and Sonora Review, and a refereed article on Percival Everett in African American Review, vol. 52, no. 1, among others.