“Astrology is not a science because women conceived it/and it’s not a religion because the stars, even/with the pictures they pattern,/could never take the place of a god”
The clock indicates—does not influence—the time
She lifts her head, grass imprinted on her cheek, big eyes
taking in the stretched sky,
the pointillism of archers and needled women
chained to rocks; imprints on her irises
a sort of negative
Roses with the stems all bent out of focus
Astrology is not a science because women conceived it
and it’s not a religion because the stars, even
with the pictures they pattern,
could never take the place of a god
The god’s pronouns are he/they
Some of us are at liberty to believe and some
of us rely on hope like a diver with a rapidly dwindling
air supply.
Hannah Page graduated from Columbia University in 2022 with an MFA in Creative Writing. She has been featured in Tupelo Quarterly, StreetLit, Half and One, Cathexis Northwest Press, and elsewhere. She is currently polishing her first full-length collection, To Unravel is Not Always to Fall Apart.
