Would You Rather

Claudeen and Will don’t know each other very well, but
when they got together
they got to talking like freshmen philosophers, like

if you were immortal
but doomed to drift forever,
would you pick outer space or the sea?

Will said the sea
’cause then he could just kick it with the sea creatures.

Claudeen asked if he’d ever seen a deep sea anglerfish

and she said space, so
her path could be illuminated by the stars
until she bumps uglies with Jupiter
or finds that other universe.
 
 
But I think the fish will be poor company.
And the galaxy too big
 
 
And I don’t want them to be alone,
 
 
so Will, he’ll make a life raft of seaweed and empty Sprite bottles.
He’ll keep afloat at sea level
sending signals up to space with sunlight and a hand mirror.
And Claudeen will hover at the edge
dropping asteroids in Morse code.
 
And they’ll drift together