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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book “the New World” cc&d, v271 (the May 2017 issue) Released with a brand new interior design! You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

Order this writing in the issue book Nothing Lasts the cc&d May-August 2017 collection book		get the 4 page May-August 2017 cc&d magazine issue collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Order this writing in the book Negative Space (the 2017 poetry, flash fiction & art collection anthology)		get the 298 page poem, flash fiction & art collection anthology as a 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

U.F.H

Eric Obame

It doesn’t happen very often
In fact I have only done it twice, flying that is
I’m not talking about getting on a plane, or a drug high
I mean my feet rising off the ground
My body soaring towards the sky
Me flying over my city
Looking down on my neighborhood
Like that falcon I see every once in a while

I can’t really express how it feels to fight gravity and win
To float when I should fall
To rise when I should crash
To be weightless and arrow fast
Cars, houses, buildings, people—they all become small
Trivial like flowers at a funeral

Last time I broke through the clouds
My body held together by will
My breath fed by a bubble of dense air
Clad in black like a thief
I rose and rose until a fast-spinning blue ball was behind me
And I was facing a darkness sprinkled by countless breadcrumb-sized suns
I was an unidentified flying object
An unidentified flying human triggering radar blips
For a while I spun in heaven
Just another satellite on the edge of Earth and space
A crescent glow smiled at me in the distance, and I smiled back

As a boy, I dreamed about sailing through the cosmos on a starship
Exploring the Milky Way, I would encounter aliens
Fight them, fight with them, sleep with them, laugh with them
I would rescue civilizations, stop invasions, colonize planets
I’m an adult now defying science

As the shadow of night conquered the face of the world behind me
I thought about visiting Mars and Saturn’s Titan
Was there life once on the red planet?
Is there still some in caves?
Is there alien life now on Titan?
Then I remembered Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, and Proxima Centaury
The nearest stars beyond our sun are only four light years away
How many of their planets and moons are inhabited?

My air ran out, and I felt my life sputtering to a stop
My blood burned, and the chill of space started freezing my skin
Mother was calling me back, and I could not deny her, not yet
With only seconds of life left, I dove back home
Hoping to reach normal gravity
And the air beneath fifteen thousand feet, before my end
I must have passed out going down, because I opened my eyes
With barely enough time to slow down before I hit the ground
Any landing you can walk away from...
Then I smiled
Then I laughed
Then I flew up again, but not as high
I will leave Earth someday, and explore the Milky Way
I won’t see Mom again for a while

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