He’s making an astronaut out of A4 white paper
for show and tell next Friday. Gravity pulls
my heart through my intestines as I watch him
navigate scissors around what he tells me

are space boots and space gloves. Worry
is a black hole. A place for me to imagine him
fingerless in A&E, wowing nurses with jokes.
“What’s an astronaut’s favourite button on a keyboard?”

Carl Burkitt 2026