The satin black moonless curtain of stars
fades
at the edge
the hard crunch of snow
crosses
the open meadow.
I come puffing clouds of frozen air
to
count cosmic rays
a
cosmic ray is like an invisible pelican
wings
tucked back
dropping out of the ink-black sky
its
mouth scoops open
ready
to devour the whole universe
our
solid earth-ocean parts,
the
pelican passes through and is gone
leaving
only a trail of scattered fish
I
come to capture those fish
I walk down a row of down-turned
concave
mirrors as big as search lights
the metal frame groans
as
I turn up the polished mirror
and
pull off the cover
my hand searches the darkness
for
hooks to anchor my cosmic net
I look down and find a face
looking
back at me
from
out of the star strewn sky.
