An interconnected family of supernovas burning bright in the night sky: take a moment, reach out—join us.
The step backwards
Matthew Herskovitz
-inspired by the New York Times obituary for Yuri Gagarin
The world’s first man
in space found a way
to die on Earth
as he should have.
Even Noah found land again.
Earth charred under plane
wherever debris
tore off, wherever jetsam
stuck its broken twisted metal.
But it grows again. Green shoots
flora back
in the wound; the place never died.
We know how this goes. It’s life for life,
flowers budding pale by the headstone,
petals brighter by the day. We’re all here to remember.
The bones of a man bleached in the sun.
About the Author
Matthew Herskovitz is a writer from Baltimore, Maryland. He is a graduate from the University of Maryland, College Park with plans to pursue an MFA in poetry. His works have been published in Words & Whispers, New Note Poetry, The Shore, Red Lemon Review, Stylus, and Laurel Moon.