Until the Stars

by Jennifer Ruth Jackson

All of the stars we see (their winking/blinking selves)
are already dead. Their sparkle, a last flicker of life
at the end of a candle. I will love you as they burn
to nothing and collapse like our cities at world’s end.
I will remember you like the first lick of snow (mimicked
by ash) as nations fall. I will wait for you in the underworld
until the displaced stars join us and again light the dark.

🩷🩷🩷

Jennifer Ruth Jackson is a poet and fictionist with cerebral palsy. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Vinyl Poetry and Prose, Algebra of Owls, Apex Magazine, and more. Domestic Bodies, her literary poetry collection, came out in 2023 from Querencia Press. When she isn't writing (or engaging in activism), you can find her crafting a variety of things or playing video games with her husband. Follow her on Bluesky or Instagram: @jenruthjackson.