13 Ways of Looking at the Stars
Emma Chace
I
With wonder,
And elation. Something
Is out there, if only we could find it.
II
In pregnant pauses
An expectation of a world
Which may or may not match
The one you think you know.
III
As a sailor charts his path
On the open sea with its reflection
Down below him.
IV
The stars make pictures,
Someone Told Me Once.
I don’t remember what they are.
V
A hurried upward look, in passing
Revealing more than you’d like to,
I think. I think that often.
VI
Did you believe the stars were trapped
In the sky? No, not trapped at all.
Surely you’ve looked into a child’s eyes.
VII
The stars with the sticky side.
On the homework you finished.
On a shirt in a store on the street
Somewhere.
VIII
On a flag flying high
Over its homeless veterans and
Its starving poor.
IX
The one which makes your eyes
Squint. The flowers grow.
The smell of burning flesh
On both what is consumed,
And that which consumes it.
X
Blankets under bodies
Over bare earth
Staring, waiting, breathing.
This is love.
XI
Hiding behind their wisps
Outshined by the moon
Harmonizing with the wolves
Which serve another master.
XII
Death, and life, those who
Bury the dead, and those who die.
The stars shine the same.
XIII
I think I heard them in a lullaby.
You’re never alone, really.
That’s what I’ve been told.
Emma Chace is studying Psychology and Philosophy with a minor in German in the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program. She is from East Brunswick, New Jersey, and spends most of her free time reading, writing, and watching movies. She will be graduating in May of 2023.
Emma wrote this poem in Paul Blaney’s Creative Writing Honors course in the fall semester of 2020. Blaney selected the piece for inclusion in WHR.