“Summer Waters” © Bonnie Matthews Brock
The Stars Who Refuse to Burn Out
after Andrea Gibson
Last night, I stared so hard at the stars
I thought one might fall just to avoid eye contact.
Blinking like survivors,
not twinkling, just twitching,
like they knew what it meant
to be looked at too long.
Or maybe they’re past lovers
teaching me lessons on how to stay.
I know people, like I know stars can be
held together by gravity and guesswork,
lighting up night’s sky for all who search.
I’ve seen addicts name their hopes
after galaxies, watched a woman on the Orange Line
whisper Orion under her breath
like it was the name of a God
that hadn’t given up on her yet.
But stars don’t fix people,
they sit with you
silent as good friends at funerals,
presenting quiet truth
never needing to shout.
to those: not burning out is enough.
Charles H. Gager, my father—
didn’t view stars for pleasure, but he saw everything.
Discovering missiles on radar was his war:
a screen full of dots that could mean
nothing or the entire world to others
sleeping soundly without being woken by sirens.
Dad no longer shines for me either,
each memory, a classified ache.
Some nights, I swear they’re up there,
undetected, not missiles, ghosts but stars.
Not gone, just further than I can reach.
Timothy Gager is the author of 20 books of fiction and poetry, which includes his fourth novel, Shadows of the Seen, and his most recent collection of poetry, Almost Bluing for X-Tra Whiteness.
Bonnie Matthews Brock is a Florida-based photographer, as well a school psychologist. She loves hiking the urban and woodland trails of “anywhere” (and pausing often to shoot photos) with her very patient husband (and often collaborator), Ted. Her images have been featured on the covers of magazines such as Ibbetson Street, Wild Roof Journal, Poesy Magazine, Humana Obscura, and Arkansas Review; as well as on the pages of publications such as Oddball Magazine, Ember Chasm Review, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Beaver Magazine, and Lateral. Her works are archived at institutions such as Poets House NYC, Brown University, and Harvard University.