stillness of the stars
by Susan Polizzotto
traveling through space and time
in a light jacket
This poem uses the season word “light jacket” to allude to nuclear fusion in a playful way. Light emitted by a star is like a magic cloak that enables it to travel through space and time. Just as a person’s jacket reveals something of their personality, a star’s jacket provides information about its location, movement, and other characteristics and properties.
Further reading:
‘There’s More to Light Than Meets the Eye’, 1996, Fischer, D. & Musser, G., The Universe in the Classroom, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, available: https://astrosociety.org/file_download/inline/82284257-466b-4b8f-9a75-15999e0902a8#:~:text=Theinformationridingonwavesoflight,theyareandwhethertheyhaveplanets.
Author bio:
Susan Polizzotto is a writer, artist, and retired Coast Guard officer who teaches and practices shodõ (Japanese calligraphy). Her book of translations of 125+ haiku by Chiyo-ni, an Edo-period woman haiku master, is forthcoming from World Poetry. You can find out more about Susan and her shodõ teaching here: https://artexposure50.com/?page_id=2139