by Catherine Xu (‘22)

Aren’t we all just suspended in the universe?

We are but objects acted upon by the whims

Of nature, of physics

As I stand in my living room

Toes curled into the carpet

I wonder how much of my weight the earth can bear

Just as I press down upon the earth

The earth presses up in return

Newton’s 3rd law

After all

States that every action has an equal

But opposite reaction

So whose burden do I bear?

What burden bears me?

Where do my half-formed thoughts

Press upon the earth

My imagined landscapes

Weightless 

Untethered 

Scattered by the wind

Free while I stand on the carpet

The ground pressing into my feet

Lending solidarity to my ankles

My legs my heart my head

And I am only one unit

Clinging to the ground

Falling outwards

Raised in a mountain against the earth

A little explanation blurb: As we come out of our first exams of the semester, I just wanted to remind everyone to just breathe, to unfurl your imagination and just be, just for a brief moment in time. It can be hard sometimes, existing, and this poem is for anyone who needs to hear that they are not alone in the universe.