NOAA-15

You were launched
on a Wednesday in 1998
on a rocket called Titan
impossible heat
fuelling an ascent
into low earth orbit

Your launch site
named after an air force general
was a 15 minute drive
from the town of ‘Lompoc’
or, for Chumash peoples
lumpo'o̥
for ‘in the cheeks'
where placenames
are bodies

When you entered space
I was nine
playing soccer
in Lompoc County
skinny legs
trying and failing
to curl a ball into a net

You fell silent
on a Tuesday in 2025
an impossible heat
raging in wildfires below
a night-moth beat the air
swirling particles

I know it’s ‘empty’
but I still listen to your frequency
cold static
filling a void
of recognition