The Sky is Falling

by Caitlin O’Halloran

The sky is falling and all anyone wants to do is look down at their phones, necks bowed in prayer over glowing handheld screens. The sky is falling and no one wants to listen to the news. In this world of ours, bad news collects like condensation on car windows and bus stop benches, so warnings from television anchors and climate experts go unheeded. No news is good news after all, and so they chalk up the blue powder covering their heads and shoulders to something fuzzy in their vision, a nagging reminder to go to the eye doctor and get their vision checked once insurance finally kicks in. And anyone who might want answers is deemed clinically insane. Others say, why does it matter? It’s not so bad breathing ozone. It’s natural after all, like cyanide and hemlock. Only the dogs are looking up in wonder, trying to lick pieces of cloud off the ground and from their owners’ hands, their small tongues lapping up fallen sky like cotton candy.

Caitlin O’Halloran is a biracial Filipino-American writer living in Rochester, New York. Her poetry and fiction have been published in literary magazines, including Frozen Sea, Gone Lawn, The Bloomin’ Onion, Twin Bird Review, and Lost Balloon. She is assistant editor at The Metaworker. www.caitlinohalloran.com