Allison Casey | Mapping stars was once a way to prove the old gods were watching

Allison Casey is a current MFA Creative Writing candidate at Rutgers University — Camden. A New Jersey native, Allison received her BA in English and Certificate in Creative Writing from Rutgers University — New Brunswick. While her first and second loves are her cat and coffee, respectively, poetry comes in at a close third. Her work has been published in Occulum Journal and Moonchild Magazine.

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Also by Allison Casey: driving on 676 modern milgram

October 2018

Allison Casey

Mapping stars was once a way
to prove the old gods were watching

I require no divine attention wanna rename the stars? wanna re-sling cobwebbing between burning vectors? don’t you wanna bump fingers with history? don’t you wanna drop clumsy into this galaxy, bring tin myth to new life? we can retire the tired constellations conceal them in supernova tug on the tension between lightyears. My eyes are up watch me trace Taurus but I am scripting your hands into the sky. when I spoon-feed that smile to the stars the Gods got nothing on me Asteria, Arachne? Those bitches got nothing on me nah forget eyes up up there right next to Polaris they’re already stitched.

A mentor referred to this poem as a sort of "cosmic sales pitch" which I think fits the bill perfectly. It was written after a night of oversharing and stargazing in the Pine Barrens with my newest best friends, a night of feeling wondrously certain that I had finally found my place. This poem is a reflection of the feeling that coursed through me that night: powerful, giddily powerful, and necessary to the universe. This poem stems from laying on your back in the middle of a dense wood, seeing every star you've ever known the name of and thinking I can name them better.

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