oh boy

i read the news today

a deadly pandemic out of control

an economic collapse

systemic racism that many have protested in the streets

& the headline has the nerve to ask

what's next?

lemme tell you

every night around midnight

i have a beer or two

then go outside

look toward alpha centauri

raise my thumb as every ordinary hitchhiker has done

hoping that the next earth shattering event

is a visit by aliens

& hoping against hope they take

me as passenger