If You Should Meet a Black Hole by Lisa Timpf

August 2023 | Utopia Science Fiction Magazine

if you should meet a black hole

out wandering the street

you’ll know it by its one dark eye

and by its lack of feet

if you should meet a black hole

it’s best to be polite —

science tells us that its bark

is not worse than its bite

if you should meet a black hole

it will not shake your hand

there’s nothing there to shake with,

as you might understand

if you should meet a black hole

the danger may seem fun

but if you want to tell the tale

it’s best to turn and run

END

Originally published in the August 2023 issue of Utopia Science Fiction Magazine.

Lisa Timpf’s poems have appeared in New Myths, Star*Line, Triangulation: Habitats, Polar Borealis, and other venues. Her collection of speculative haibun poetry, In Days to Come, is available from Hiraeth Publishing. You can find out more about Lisa’s writing projects at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/.