Lawrence Di Stefano

Constellation

A sky infested
with stars,
is perhaps
what the fly sees
when it collides
with itself
in the bathroom
mirror. Flies
appear around
excrement,
and the dead
—rats too.
Someone points
out that star
is rats
spelled backwards.

A constellation
sleeps beneath us,
wakes at night
while we sleep.
In a haze,
the fly dives,
then dies
before we wake.
As we
brush our teeth
in the morning
and later exchange
words—
words we will
surely mishear,
misinterpret,
the power lines
will buzz outside,
though,
the landline
has gone silent.

If you want to see
stars during
the day, all you
have to do is go
down into
a deep hole,
they say,

and look up

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Lawrence Di Stefano’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in RHINO, Free State Review, STIRRING, The Shore and Santa Clara Review, among other journals. He holds an MFA in poetry from San Diego State University, is a Book Review Editor at The Los Angeles Review and a Best New Poets nominee for 2022.