When I look at the stars
I am looking at myself
compressed and s c a t t e r e d
spaces in my body
atoms in the spaces in my body
spaces in the atoms of my body
all line up
perfectly
with a whirling majesty
of farflung light
what little comes to rest won’t rest forever
pause in the evening’s career
to look up and out instead of the relentless in
that pause is what connects me to the gull
making flight from feathers
hanging just that second, holding so
and-then-the-thought-has-made-its-track-across-my-brain-&-beyond
look!-at-this-nohere-closer-than-nowhere
that’s-how-you-tell-the-difference
We pull attention back and return to labour. Scratch of pens,
squeak of chairs as kids
settle themselves in school.
hush that falls
at parties . standing wave of overheated traffic . moon
hangs in the same place for hours & then vanishes
Hearing of a death and racing toward it, melting in fear
& hollowed by outrage that my life could be
made to vanish, as the stars at daybreak are
overpowered by an importunate sun.