for Pete

look to the sky he said

our backs on the field

know the universe is

vast, and you, a speck

of dust, but worth much

more than what little we

usually take dust for

the looking helped on

that clear college night

but I forgot

in our underground years

only sound no light and ears bound

mind without sight to set caverns

straight he carried me up

showed me the blood moon

peeking between brownstones

drove me to where dippers

rise and fall over farms

four eyes brown and blue

pitched high spy what most

never do

stag                      star                      skating

across mountains in

midnight’s hue, oh,

stark that view

still, by our return

I forgot

back to the sky I

alone went and he

sent me so separately

we spent eclipse season

he building a pinhole

while I was reading Emily

a new moon crowned the sun

in shadow dark as night in day

I found me as he’d found me

in totality

I remembered

fully returned

wholly

shed our basement

we made of I plus he

climbed to the top floor

like wild roses bathe

among city stars

it’s never pitch quite

so

stand the bright

till

concrete orbits dry

up specks fly

in sync sometimes

solo still they

dust the same

open black is

transit back

to actuality

yes

he’s been wise to fix my eyes

yes, now send him, I say

I say look to the sky

look to the sky

ABOUT THE ARTIST

These days, Alison Elizabeth McLaughlin spends her time writing, singing, and herbal crafting. She was born in Boston, raised in the Boston suburbs, and is now based in Brooklyn.