By Jessica Barksdale

One minute, I was minding my own grief
and rearranging the pantry, and the next

I was in the duct with Captain Dallas from Alien,
both of us searching for what might kill us.

The captain wanted to destroy the alien, and I wanted
to find a male companion with whom to travel

into old age. Both Dallas and I were passengers on an aging
spaceship with an obvious destination. But now, such

difficult tasks, the spaceship rumbling into disaster,
with urgency, a monster headed our way. It’s moving

right toward you, the crewmates yelled, and there
was no denying the darkness with gnashing teeth

looming closer. Dallas urged me forward, though
we could feel the cold metal sweat of the beast

behind us. Get out of there, the crewmates screamed,
but really, no matter what, there was only one exit

and behind us, nothing but jaws and acid and
certain destruction. Hang on, Dallas whispered,

even as the creature grabbed us both, even
as the journey ended the way it was supposed to.

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Jessica Barksdale’s seventeenth novel, What They Found at the Lake, is forthcoming in 2026. She has published three poetry collections, When We Almost Drowned (2019), Grim Honey (2021), and Let’s End This Now (2024). She taught at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, and continues to teach for UCLA Extension and in the online MFA program for Southern New Hampshire University.