In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Black Matter*
  • Xandria Phillips (bio)

Yes, Tracy, you were right to ask: What if dark matter islike the space between people when what holds them together isn’texactly love? I have eaten my share of it. I havesurvived on the acrid flesh of dark matter. I haveleft bedrooms with sprawls of black grease adorning my face when I was notallowed entry into the well-lit rooms of people’s lives. I foundmy palate grew accustomed to the sting, and my stomach, another black hole,led my open mouth to this matter. Tracy, I get anxious too

when I don’t know the answers to questions, but even scientists are makingguesses. Dark matter is the most populous substance in the universe,and no scientist has yet to give me a straight definition, free of their ownimagination. The physical world and its bodies,

forms, and substances evade my understanding while nature throttles meto touch and taste despite better judgement. For a single day I was a physicistand I wondered whether the Black body and the blackbody are so different—“it emits as much energy as—or more energy than—any other body.”We both absorb and emit with little to no talk or concern for sustenance.What if dark matter is like the space between existence and humanityin the motels of our lives when a Black body is at stake? [End Page 622]

Xandria Phillips

XANDRIA PHILLIPS hails from rural Ohio and received her undergraduate education from Oberlin College. An associate editor at Winter Tangerine Review, she has published in West Branch, Nepantla, The Adroit Journal, and The James Franco Review.

Footnotes

* Reprinted with permission from Leopardskin and Limes. Xandria Phillips © 2015

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