The Sublime Eoin Cahill

I downloaded an app that overlaid the universe onto the camera of my phone.

It terrorises me.

Launched from my garden, when conditions are right, I slowly traverse the night sky.

Ignite the constellations, wait with trepidation for the next planet to bulge

- JUPITER -

from the screen. Spa music that accompanies my voyage adds to the disquiet.

Maybe it was thought necessary, to soothe the anxiety which may arise,

when you realise just how insignificant you are. A speck of space dust

amidst the infinite. I abort my mission and go back inside. I launched it once during the day.

To see if it was all still there. It was. But things had moved. Mars was floating below my toes.

I closed it again quickly. It is difficult to focus on my task of moving numbers and words

around a grid on an illuminated screen, to be sent, to be sent,

while all of these planets and stars continue to move around me, day and night, with no regard for my work.

I deleted the app that overlaid the universe onto the camera of my phone.