Poetry Contemporary 1 min Worthy Tales Magazine Issue 1, October 2020

The Day a New Planet Appeared in the Sky

Sarah Billings

Sarah Billings is a playwright, theatre artist, and educator in Philadelphia. She is a co-founder of Worthy Tales Magazine, a quarterly publication of new, interesting fiction and poetry in the tradition of the old sci-fi and fantasy pulp magazines. "The Day a New Planet Appeared in the Sky" is published as part of Philly Storied City, a city-wide literary project. More here: philly.short-edition.com

The day a new planet appeared in the sky:
"What is it?" they asked, "Where'd it come from?" and "Why?"
But we took a different approach, you and I:
I mowed the lawn and you baked that nice pie.
You put on a dress and I tied my nice tie.

When the people descended – two men from the sky –
they didn't announce where they'd come from or why.
We invited them in; set up whipped cream and pie
and a three-legged race – which came down to a tie.