Nuclear Alien UFO from Korea

I drank honey vodka from a coffee cup and waited for you to emerge. It had been a long day. So literal. So many talking-heads. At one point I’d muttered to myself, “You’re an asshole, Lovick, that’s your problem.” But here you were like my savior and we began our night walk.

We plunged down the purplish streets flowing oceanward. We passed the goofy-looking palm tree with the Sideshow Bob hairdo and the cactus garden with its box of free cactus clippings, the street lights pinging off a row of electric scooters.

I caught our reflection in a passing car and then again in a convex mirror on a pole near a driveway. The distant stop sign was a backlit hexagon and powerlines with hot edges drooped between buildings. Dark figures clinked wine glasses on a balcony. I saw a shadow glide across your skin.

We watched a winged creature fly into a street lamp and electrocute itself in a fiery cloudburst before finding ourselves underneath eucalyptus trees with their scent of mint and tarragon.

We crossed the PCH and onto the great beach that feathered off into darkness in both directions. My body seemed to extend, the ocean air pulling me upward and the sand cushioning my footsteps. A line of seagulls swooped skyward before doubling over itself in the halation of the moon dappling silver upon the blue waves.

I wanted to tell you something. Something about how endearing I find your voice. The timbre of it, vulnerable somehow, but fearless, like staccato brushstrokes upon the canvas my life. Or just tell you something simple about your eyes. But I couldn’t get any of this out. Something insane had appeared in the sky.

It was a jellyfish of light with an epic tail and a blazing eye. We thought for sure it was an alien. A woman appeared next to us who was crying at the sight, followed by more people with mouths agape. I was surprised by my negative reaction: great, now there are literally aliens. But a guy showed up and said it was a rocket. “Elon-fucking-Musk is punking us all. You read his tweet? ‘Nuclear Alien UFO from Korea.’ ”

I was grateful for Musk’s sense of humor.