QUEPOS *
A chunk of a rare type of meteorite crashed into a Costa Rican village this spring. Experts say it likely contains clues to the origins of life on Earth—pristinely preserved amounts of stardust made up of materials that predate the Earth, sun, and our entire solar system.
Jimena walked to the harbor to watch the clouds and sky meet the water.
Her heart was the heart of the sky and the clouds and the water.
In her eyes, the dust of stars glinted. Her eyes knew the Earth’s pristine origins.
Her mouth tasted salt air. Jimena sat on a box at the harbor
where she listened carefully to the lapping of the world’s origins
smack against pilings, against the sides of small boats.
Jimena’s hands opened and closed, gripped the past, gripped the sky’s secrets,
invited the solar system that was Quepos—the only home she knew.
* Also a small town in Costa Rica
