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Column 611

Astronomer

Intro by Ted Kooser
12.04.2016

What would our lives be like if we did­n’t have imag­i­na­tion? Here’s a poem by Rachel Richard­son, who lives in Cal­i­for­nia, from her book, Hun­dred-Year Wave, from Carnegie Mel­lon Uni­ver­si­ty Press. 

Astronomer

A child climbs into a cardboard house,
shuts its doors and windows
to hold in the dark, and lies on her back
inside, looking up through its cut-out moon
and stars. She knows she is not looking
at the sky. But she calls out, still,
It's nighttime! I'm looking at the sky!

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Disclaimer

We do not accept unsolicited submissions

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2016 by Rachel Richardson, “Astronomer,” from Hundred-Year Wave, (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2016). Poem reprinted by permission of Rachel Richardson and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.