& two weeks ago the sky was all purple
& I thought of quoting the Prince song
as I posted the pic on my Instagram story
but I settled on:
I didn’t have to go to Iceland to see the Northern Lights.
& no one has any answers, but they are certain we are safe.
& CNN tells me they shut down a NY airport.
& I scroll past video after video of orbs on my TikTok feed
speculating this is another UFO cover up.
So you suggest we rent War of the Worlds on Amazon Prime
because doesn’t every alien invasion begin in Jersey?
& it’s totally mind blowing
that this movie is 20 years old.
& Tom Cruise looks like Tom Cruise.
& landlines & flip phones & movie theaters & trusting
what you were told were all still a thing.
& how is Dakota Fanning 31
when Christina Aguilera & Lindsey Lohan still look 22?
Maybe they are no longer human.
& as the Bayonne Bridge collapses
& the aliens vaporize the extras,
my Facebook Neighborhood & Friends Group
spy drones all over town.
So we venture outside
& stare at the sky, excitedly take
our own blurry iPhone shots,
forget this is how the movie always starts—