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
We loved reading the work that we’ve published (clearly), and we want an
opportunity to better hear our contributors. We're featuring audio recordings of
poems from our pages, read by the poet. This an open invitation to all contributors
from any of our issues, we were delighted to print your work, now we’re eager to
hear it.
