#celestial estrangement

I had just paid for coffee when the grid buckled across the valley, store by store. The barista laughed at what the silence did— we thought we’d wait five minutes, maybe four. The highways held their breath, overpasses stilled. The satellites spun mute, tracing their arc. We watched the last plane circle, bank from hills, and tilt its wing to find a field before dark. The grocery shelves turned…