“NASA’s Kepler Spacecraft Discovers New Batch of Earthlike Planets”
—National Geographic

 
                    Hard to contain my relief—
          I hope one is like our Earth
                              but devoid of human-like creatures
 
 
                    Only weather
 
                                                  plants
                              and birds that eat them
 
 
                    I imagine falling asleep
          among the flora
                              and not waking up
 
 
          not even when it rains
 
 
 

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Timothy Otte’s work has appeared in or is forthcoming from SAND Journal, the minnesota review, Paper Darts, and elsewhere. He is a 2014-15 Loft Mentor Series winner and is currently at work on his first book. He is from and lives in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, but he keeps a home on the internet: www.timothyotte.com