stars – poems 2 die for

ENDINGS

BOOK OF THE STARS

the book of the stars

is full
of Arabic names

up to the brim
cover to cover

so clean
the script
no spots, blots,
typos, errors, slips, slurs,
smudges

Sadalsuud, Sadalmelik,
Formalhaut,

full of
the mystery of the cosmos;
they just
roll off the tongue

the book of the stars
bursting its seams with
Arabic names

IN CONJUNCTION

perfunctory
matter-of-factual

lowest
common denominator
recurring (hexi) decimal

super-accurate
orgasm you may measure
with a micrometer
seismically

and still the longing
insatiable to rummage
through
your toolbox

plough
through your belongings

wondering what gloss
you going to give this

what
star alignment you will find
stellar conjunction

Oh so Mars, Venus, Mars
Mercury

perfectly planetary?

assuming the feral position
in the loadshed dark
on my bed
with a dying cat
my
beautiful dying cat

I cannot wait for two
weeks to pass and I hit
what just has to be
my final birthday

don’t give me
rebirth
I would be
kicking and screaming against
the very thought
of consciousness
possibility
of coming back

not to be u grateful
not to disrespect life, that
sacred most
magical
of things

but thanks but
no thanks

leave me be for that trillion years
until the Universe is a dead weight
of iron and
burnt out coal

and the last civilizations who had
their faith who had their dream
are
long long gone

maybe
like us they had their astrology
astronomy cosmology

their genius mettle.
born under
the constellation
which loosely
translates as the dying cat