POUR ME CARBON, I’M FROM HERE

When the comet body (any body) is ice, and subsequently gas, we are referencing the ecological succession of all things – the circularity and ultimate efficiency of what it means to be earthly and made out of carbon. As the body floats through space, its adaptation to the environment is inimical to its survival. The narrator muses on earthy relationships, realizing how perfectly adapted they are to our planet. Painterly comets and talk of minerals remind us that circularity is not limited to our familiars.

In space, in the deep sea, we are reminded of such limits in extremity. We are also reminded of the trade-off for sentience and language, as our skin can only stretch so far, withstand so many degrees of fluctuation. As the human body drifts, a physical and mental homesickness encroaches. The fleshiness of this new adaptation, counter to soul-survival offers a new cognizance of our planetary system as familial/renounced.