after Adrienne Rich
for Caroline Herschel
I stand over
the sink and wretch making
no sound
*
brave —
nevermind all that wavy noise
I think those asteroids are just
diamantes flung into acrid tar
*
the only true galaxies are monsters
in the shape of women
the colony of an invisible amanuensis
*
during sex I like to think
about the glass ceiling
the one with a surface
of constant negative
curvature
jiggling the light that is still
reaching us when we were younger
and ambition felt roomy
under our armpits
*
I drop another pin
in the strata of catalogues
we stand yet
as if by some
deep suckage it vanishes
just like the others
*
someone pats me on
the back and tells me
I should sit down
for Caroline Herschel
I stand over
the sink and wretch making
no sound
*
brave —
nevermind all that wavy noise
I think those asteroids are just
diamantes flung into acrid tar
*
the only true galaxies are monsters
in the shape of women
the colony of an invisible amanuensis
*
during sex I like to think
about the glass ceiling
the one with a surface
of constant negative
curvature
jiggling the light that is still
reaching us when we were younger
and ambition felt roomy
under our armpits
*
I drop another pin
in the strata of catalogues
we stand yet
as if by some
deep suckage it vanishes
just like the others
*
someone pats me on
the back and tells me
I should sit down
