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I only know one or two constellations from my night sky
maybe more, but I can’t hardly see any of the stars anymore.
Perhaps a new urban system of star navigation is needed
one that makes allowances for missing stars, disconnected constellations
perhaps made up of just one or two directional points
the most important ones that are always there.

Perhaps each city will need its own chart, dependent on the level
of light pollution and air pollution blocking out swaths of space
or two or three charts to a region depending on what to expect of the season
and how much cloud cover to expect.

Most of our constellations were written for sea travel anyway
and not necessarily for new lovers to try to pick out
from the front seat of a car, parked high in the hills
like we are, squinting through the smog we can’t seem to climb past
no matter how many times you restart the engine
to drive us to a higher point.



Holly Day has taught writing classes at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, since 2000. Her poetry has recently appeared in Big Muddy, The Cape Rock, New Ohio Review, and Gargoyle, and her published books include Walking Twin Cities, Music Theory for Dummies, Ugly Girl, and The Yellow Dot of a Daisy. She has been a featured presenter at Write On, Door County (WI), North Coast Redwoods Writers’ Conference (CA), and the Spirit Lake Poetry Series (MN). Her newest poetry collections are A Perfect Day for Semaphore (Finishing Line Press) and I’m in a Place Where Reason Went Missing (Main Street Rag Publishing Co.).
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18 Nov 2024

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In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Little Lila by Susannah Rand, read by Claire McNerney. Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: Spotify
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