bright glimmers but what night vision
broken bordered the hate-fractured
headline paint still wet
obliterating a symbol for hope
nobody wants to become
constellations named for family
with only space and imagination
linking hands
our sky’s already too full
of loss, its silvery junk
with only small flickers
here and there so distant it’s taken
years to reunite a few
impoverished memories of light
they say we will not be able to see
stars soon but ok we have them for now
—
Sarah Ann Winn’s first book, Alma Almanac (Barrow Street) won the Barrow Street Book Prize, judged by Elaine Equi. She is also the author of five chapbooks, most recently, Ever After the End Matter (Porkbelly). Her writing has appeared in Five Points, Massachusetts Review, Nashville Review, Quarterly West, Smartish Pace, and elsewhere. She’s the founder of Poet Camp, a creative community where she leads online classes, jumpstarts and cozy writing retreats. Find her at http://poetcamp.com.
