Long-Term Unemployment
By Mark Hendrickson
Thank you for the interview. Yes, I anticipated that question: Where do I see myself in 500 years? On the newly discovered exoplanet HD 189733b, just 64 light-years away. We’ll have extended our life spans and colonized it by then. I’ll have a janitorial job there, too, cleaning up and polishing the glass that falls as rain from silicate particulates in the cobalt skies. The streets will undoubtedly be paved with rubies—abundant there, given the pressure—so I’ll need steel-toed boots…. Oh, you said five years, not 500. I suppose I’ll be here, getting new hearing aids.
Mark Hendrickson (he/him/his) is a poet and writer in the Des Moines area. His work has appeared in Variant Lit, Five Minutes, Leaf, Swing, and other magazines. He worked for many years as a mental health technician in a locked psychiatric unit. He has advanced degrees in music, health information management, and marriage and family therapy.