◉ 050 | Sydney what?

Artemis II crew

sent an image of Earth

from space

that reminded me

of the cover

of Najnoviji veliki atlas svijeta—

a world atlas

from 1986

I used to flip through

every day as a kid.

I knew every single

country flag in the world

from that era—

okay, it was that single red flag

for all the countries

in the Soviet Union.

I knew the rough population,

in millions,

of every single country

as well.

I also knew

every capital city

in the world.

In grade 7,

before geography class,

we started talking

about Australia.

Someone said,

“Sydney.”

“Sydney what?”

I asked.

“Sydney is the capital

of Australia.”

“Nope,”

I said.

They persisted

so we took bets.

Five classmates

said Sydney.

I said no.

10 kunas each.

50 in total.

The teacher came in.

We sat down.

I put my hand

in the air.

“Excuse me,

can you tell us

what’s the capital

of Australia?”

“Canberra,”

the teacher said.

I smiled.

I left the classroom

50 kunas richer.

Who would’ve thought

back in 1994

that 20 years later

I’d call the

land down under

home.