I have been dreaming again, she said, breaking

a roll of round coins into the cash register,

of John Glenn on the Friendship Seven spacecraft

during the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission

of 1962. And as she handed

me my change, I could not help but look into

her vein-etched eyes. That’s why I could not sleep

the way I did when I was a teenager.
You look tired, I said, nodding: Have you tried

out The Phenomenon of Luminosity

before you sleep? That may account for something.

As she handed my bag, she said: That’s something,

but I’ve not heard it in over a decade,

and I have all but forgotten the melody.