![]() Hannah Larrabee’s Wonder Tissue won the Airlie Press Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for a Massachusetts Book Award. Hannah was selected by NASA to write poetry for the James Webb Space Telescope program, and she's a recipient of a 2022 Arctic Circle Residency. She recently guest edited the climate change issue of Nixes Mate Review. www.hannahlarrabee.com The Observable Universe
We’ve all heard the question why is the sky blue? but why is it dark at night? is something else entirely. It becomes a story beneath the science, like infrared of Botticelli’s “Man of Sorrows” revealing a sketch of Madonna and child. What did he decide? Was it prayer rearranged into another prayer? We are left with what is observable, what we are meant to see. The universe itself is illuminated just right; what we see is light having traveled this far and that’s it. So much light still on its way. We’ll never see it all, no human being, but maybe a tarsier with big soft eyes or some distant relative gripping a tree, the night sky getting brighter. I’d hate it. Leave me inside the sensuous dark or at least be bold enough to bring me a brighter lover to obscure the sky: Andromeda, or maybe Saturn and its rings taking a closer seat, the scale model of desire collapsing. 12 degrees tonight and a ladybug clings to the kitchen light. The stars are clear as hell in this crisp air. When I ask what is observable? what I mean is what is still making its way to me? I’ve been told we create the kinds of relationships we want, and of course that’s true but it doesn’t consider the distance required to travel. It matters sometimes to be far away. I am standing watching the ladybug wondering which prayer was closer to Botticelli-- the one he hid from us, that seems right.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Dina L. Relles-
texts i never sent Hannah Larrabee-
The observable universe Caitlyn Alario- Sapphics II
Michael Battisto-
My Friends Ben Togut- Dear H
Saba Keramati-
Self Mythology Shannon Johnson- the wave in my heart is a great green wave
Lauren Saxon- When I tell the flowers hello, she knows
Lisa Summe-
On Polyamory Caroline Stevens-
Field of Vision travis tate- MORE BEAUTY
Alissa M. Barr- Living
Michael Bazzett- from The Book of Unknown Facts
Carrie George- Removing and repositioning
Jess Smith-
Student Evaluations Jenny Irish- Rusalka
Terri Linn David-
For the Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits Darius Simpson- 2 Poems
Kaleigh O'Keefe- Autobiography of Joan of Arc
Timi Sanni- In This World of Mysteries...
Anna Attie- We Lose Her Over Facetime
Ruth Baumann- 2 Poems
Rob Colgate- Remember These Tulips
Tasneem Maher- Pilgrimage
Aerik Francis- Bebop
Emily Blair- The best ham...
Adrienne Novy- 2 Poems
Daniel Garcia- 2 Poems
Brendan Joyce- moving day
Sanna Wani- 2 Poems
Raphael Jenkins- 2 Poems
Daniel Summerhill-
2 Poems Ava Gripp- Your Grandfather Had Secrets
stevie redwood- abolish the dead
Ariel Clark-Semyck-
2 Poems benedict nguyen- 2 Poems
Devin Kelly- 2 Poems
Alan Chazaro- In a Vernacular of Speculation
Deema K. Shehabi-
A Summer's Tale with Fire Birds Kayleb Rae Candrilli-
2 Poems Julianne Neely- 2 Poems
Jake Bailey- 2 Poems
Fargo Tbakhi- 2 Poems
Naomi Shihab Nye-
2 Poems Keith Leonard- Jukebox
CAConrad- 3 Poems
Roya Marsh- for (insert name)
Stephanie Kaylor- LONG DISTANCE
Despy Boutris- BLOODTEETH
JinJin Xu- Days of Hourless Mothers
Ashley M. Jones- Flour, Milk & Salt
Sam Herschel Wein- How To Cook Your Family
Marianne Chan- 2 poems
Jason Crawford- PReP
Geramee Hensley- Redundancy Limit
Dustin Pearson- My Brother Outside the House in Hell
DT McCrea- On occasion of my own death
Noor Hindi- Unkept
Linda Dove- Mid-Life with Teeth
Stephen Furlong- I Don't Know About You, but Mostly I Just Want to be Held
Dorothy Chan- Because You Fall Too Fast Too Hard
Kevin Latimer- MIRAGE
Taylor Byas- Rooftop Monologue
Matt Mitchell- FINE LINE TRIPTYCH
Todd Dillard- Will
Heidi Seaborn- Under The Bed
Heather Myers- A Rainbow, Just For A Minute
Donna Vorreyer- In The Encyclopedia of Human Gestures
Conor Bracken- THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO TO A MAN
Ben Purkert- 2 Poems
Emma Bolden- What Women's Work Is
Chelsea Dingman- Lockdown Drill
Raych Jackson- Pantoum for Derrion Albert from the Plank
Elliot Ping- in the eighth grade
Kwame Opoku-Duku-
ii. dance moves D.A. Powell- Sneak
|