Stars—celestial or otherwise
A Procrastination Poem
Hey, hey party people. Happy Advent. I have a few thoughts on the season that I’m eager to explore and share, but they’ll have to wait until next week. This week is booked with putting the final touches on a manuscript for my forthcoming book (due on Friday). I am so ready to hand this version of it off to my editors. My eyes have gone crossed looking at it for so long. You know when you say a word or phrase too many times and it starts loses its meaning? Sounds like gibberish? That’s how I’m feeling about this book.
In the meantime, I have a poem for you. I wrote it after falling down a rabbit hole about a certain celebrity breakup which is so uncharacteristic of me but I can’t stop thinking about it. So, a poem. It’s about stars and celebrities and I hope you like it.
Stars—celestial or otherwise
How many songs, I wonder, have been written of the stars?
How many by stars of a different kind—
all are brilliant, winking, shimmering things,
Lovely enough to make us forget they are ablaze;
that they are bright because they are, in fact, burning.
We stand and behold them
with raised hands and streaming eyes,
wholly unaware of the mighty oaks
who've been planted right there by the stream,
yielding to the seasons
for 60 years or 100,
drawing, from an unseen reserve,
enough vitality to spare—
(consider the chorus of mushrooms
clinging to his trunk, waving their ringed fingers;
consider all those southbound starlings, singing and at rest in his arms;
do you see the velvet moss blanket draped across his feet?)
Yes, he is bumpy and brown there are plenty others like him,
but his touch won't result in a blister.
What I'm trying to say is
beware of the stars—celestial or otherwise—
and their demand of your attention,
lest you miss what's before you now,
quietly, brilliantly alive,
right here on earth.
Love this so much! Thank you for sharing! 🤍