Recline. Gaze into a night
of asterisks – sky of footnote, exception.

And you, the skeptic, hopes
for a constellation of consolation.

The star watches you, inquires:
are you manmade? Divine? You

are singular. The star stands in
for many, crudely drawn and condemned

to representation, a practice in decline,
a practice you do not condone.

Comfort the star.
Assure the star of company.

Tell the star you’re sure
it won’t go home alone.

Patricia Seyburn has published two books of poems: Mechanical Cluster (Ohio State University Press, 2002) and Diasporadic (Helicon Nine Editions, 1998). Seyburn's first book won the American Library Association’s Notable Book Award for 2000. Her poems have been published in New England Review, Quarterly West, The Paris Review, Seneca Review, Field, Phoebe, Passages North, Poetry East and Bellingham Review, among others. She teaches at California State University, Long Beach, and is co-editor of Pool.