In order to view this poem with the line breaks the author intended, we suggest reading it on a computer screen or in landscape orientation on your phone or tablet.

On Another Planet

First the noise,
the air’s incessant clang.

Then the smell:
microbes munching
on sodden socks.

And the heaviness—
pull, lift, push—
gravity amplified.

The doctor didn’t say
it would be this alien—
would be easy to adapt.

What strange creatures!
Skin stretched so tightly
over their endoskeletons.

Some grunt in monosyllables,
their communication
indecipherable.

They leave their bodily fluids
on whatever they touch.
I want to go back home.

But my transport’s not ready.
Will I survive my first day at Planet Fitness?

—
E.H. Jacobs is a New England-based psychologist and writer. His novel, Splintered River, was published this fall. His work has appeared in several literary journals. He has published two books in psychology, book reviews for the American Journal of Psychotherapy, and served on the clinical faculty of Harvard Medical School.

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