It’s true. It’s science. And science

is undefeated. Lemme amend that.

Science’s winning percentage is more

like .500, as true science is proven wrong

as much as right, & to inflate its victories

or records would be anti-science hero

worship, & we certainly don’t need any

more of that. It ain’t the way I wanted it.

I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like

everybody says... like dumb... I’m smart

and I want respect! Listen, little buddy,

I know you’re smart. Sure you are.

But maybe ease up on the insistence

& go down to the watering hole &

catch us some fish for supper? Thanks.

Part of the reason we’re so quick to

deify rock stars, politicos, celluloid

heroes, or pop culture influencers

is because in them we see that they

just might have broken the continuum

& actually have a chance at immortality

as their names might be remembered

longer than Neanderthals & we want

some of that glitter shedding off of them

like comet dust & if we just touch some

of that, we’re flying soon enough &

Peter Pan, too. And if/when they crash

& burn, we just can’t admit we were

wrong about them because then there’s

no escaping the truth that eventually

we’ll do the same, & then, for millennia,

we’ll startle awake at 3am, reminding

ourselves how far we’ve come & just

how far we haven’t.

-------------------------------------

Bob King is an Associate Professor of English at Kent State University at Stark. His work is also forthcoming from Erato Magazine, coalitionworks, Gone Lawn, Moss Puppy Magazine, The Daily Drunk, Curio Cabinet Magazine, Olney Magazine, Moot Point Magazine, The Gorko Gazette, Drunk Monkeys, and Aôthen Magazine. He lives on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife & daughters.