Sunday, March 3, 2024

SHARI ZOLLINGER—"KILL YOUR DARLINGS: A ZODIAC*" (Issue 27)

KILL YOUR DARLINGS: A ZODIAC* 

ARIES
March 21 to April 19 
What if you stay a minute longer, 
turn toward hieroglyphic heat; translate 
the slow theater of fuel, oxygen, gas? 
Quiet elongation of ember.

TAURUS
April 20 to May 20 
What if you stay too long? 
Clay sculpture readying for foundry, 
threshold of the very long pose. 
Might you enact a risky yawn? 

GEMINI
May 21 to June 21 
What if you say nothing, 
even when rumor gathers in your throat, 
or when the tornado under your tongue 
seeks ground? 

CANCER
June 22 to July 22 
What if you stop looking in the mirror? 
Nanao Sakaki says, "to stay young, to save the world, 
break the mirror.” 
Wetland-scattered water calls up a new image. 
The place where blue herons nest. 

LEO
July 23 to August 22 
What if you walk through the city, 
not as yourself? Invisible, cloaked—disguised. 
Moustached and platinum-mohawked, 
how will you survive the day? 

VIRGO
August 23 to September 23 
What if you let the dust settle? 
Skiff of very find powder accumulates 
in the gutters of rare books. 
Resist the temptation to scatter. 

LIBRA
September 24 to October 22 
What if you risk asymmetry? 
This will mean a new set of plans. 
Let the pond to ripple. 
Look for chaos. 

SCORPIO 
October 23 to November 21 
What if you let go of her hand? 
Kite-like, she’ll fly up, 
tiny bowties on string. Tether release. 
Emptiness palms a beginning. 

SAGITTARUIS 
November 22 to December 21 
What if you came down 
from your fire outlook, from smoke 
and elevation? It’s time to walk 
off the mountain.

CAPRICORN
December 22 to January 19 
What if you let Time, 
fall from a cliff face? How will you 
measure your minutes going 
forward? 

AQUARIUS
January 20 to February 18 
What if you consider 
coming in from the stars, just for a peek 
at what the humans are doing? 
This will be research. 

PISCES 
February 19 to March 20 
What if you lay a little longer, 
if only to consider the astonishing 
dream motif conjured night 
after night? 



ABOUT THE POET 

A native of Utah, Shari Zollinger divides her time between her work as a 
professional astrologer and independent bookseller. She has been known to write 
a poetic verse or two with published work in Sugar House Review and Redactions
She recently published Carrying Her Stone, a collection of poems based on the 
work of Auguste Rodin.



ABOUT SUGAR HOUSE REVIEW 


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