In a Bottle

At one level, we are simply living in a bottle. Inside the bottle, freight trains thread across mountain passes, restless seas grasp at rocky coasts, and clouds range lazily above beasts in the field. At night, cities glow like circuitry, and voices bounce invisibly between towers. We plant flower gardens. We wage wars. We send postcards and text messages.

Outside the bottle, the Moon endlessly circles, comets streak through flexing stars, and tiny bottles we’ve ejected from our big bottle are only now reaching out to explore what lies beyond. Out there, no one knows our names. No one waits for us. And yet, we keep sending.

Exploration is our naming song.

—Mitchell Hegman