Alternate Universe where Einstein Crawls out of a
Black Hole
Abu Bakr Sadiq
to reinvigorate his memories he scissors
a circle through his hair. unveiling clusters
of arrow-shaped birthmarks.
in the room, i watch his fingers
trace an imaginary line in the air
like a star, near the end of its life
floating through twins of galaxies.
he spills out photons when he coughs.
stutters when he reads me a reversed theory
of relativity. i unhinge the door,
when light pours in, his face becomes a black hole
swelling through the eye of a telescope.
he points to an ice cube on a table.
calls it the entrance to a spaceship. i pour him a cup
of milkshake. he drinks & throws up tiny bulbs
of dark matter. i ask what he learned
in the innards of the black hole. he moonwalks
at the speed of light. sings spanish songs between
mouthfuls of meatballs. pricks his bloodshot left eye & calls it
the point of infinite density. levitates in the center of the room
to show me the broken smokescreen shielding the lie
known as the force of gravity. i ask about the possibilities of time travel.
he snaps his fingers & takes us back to the future. he speaks
of a universe where brainstorms gather in empty skulls
to drag rainfalls towards deserts. i suggest he takes me with him
when he’s to return. he looks at me
like he's just witnessed the death of his ghost.
Abu Bakr Sadiq is a Nigerian poet. An Ignyte Award finalist, his work is nominated for the Rhysling Award and is published in MIZNA, FIYAH, Uncanny Magazine, Augur Magazine, Zone 3 Press Magazine, Palette Poetry, The Lit Quarterly, Rockvale Review and elsewhere. Find him on Twitter @bakronline