Poetry / Michael Montlack

:: Sue Me for Choosing “Delusion”::

                  
             Some of my friends scoff when I confess
I’ve abandoned the news for astrology. For now.
(Maybe forever.) When I explain how this was
to be expected because of the recent shift in nodes
emphasizing my 8th house, I don’t blame them
for tuning me out. (How much bs can anyone take?)
I already miss Rachel, Joy, Anderson, and yes,
the daily outrage that made me feel more alive.
Right now I’d rather research the cosmic trajectory
of benefic Jupiter than gauge any impending damage
done on this planet. Some say we’re living through
an era of willful ignorance. Maybe I’d like a sip too.
To slip into something more comfortable: Denial.
I always thought it a weakness but it’s quite magical
when I consider it a celestial suit of armor—for me,
the knight doing whatever it takes to save himself.

:: Cosmic Latte (#FFF8E7) ::

            
             The average color of the universe,
according to astronomers at Johns Hopkins.

Coffee with cream—god knows what Starbucks
will do with that. Though it’s closer to ivory,

making the tusk of the walrus and elephant even
more mystical. And perhaps more vulnerable.

When Cantor, the German mathematician,
discovered infinity comes in different sizes

during the 19th Century, could he fathom the Earth
has more trees than the Milky Way has stars?

The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland—
why not. Infrared cameras can’t see polar bears

due to their fur, and 80% of our oceans are still
unexplored. So who knows what’s out there?

Imagine what the United States would look like
had George Washington known about dinosaurs.

Compared to most planets, Venus spins “backwards,”
and the Southern Hemisphere sees the moon “upside

down” when compared to how Northerners see it.
(90% of the population in the Northern Hemisphere.)

Wonder if Stevie Nicks spins Venus-wise—her shawls
a cosmic latte swirl, to match the unicorns in her stable.

Let’s hope Cantor’s infinities come in more than one color.
Even if our lenses are too primitive for a wider spectrum.

From the writer

:: Account ::

Hope­ful­ly, all of us are find­ing ways to cope in this polit­i­cal cli­mate. After years of bing­ing on news, I knew I need­ed anoth­er route to nav­i­gate through it all. And I found it: the polit­i­cal astrologers on YouTube, who explained the dai­ly head­lines through the charts of politi­cians and nations. It was immense­ly sooth­ing. And sur­pris­ing­ly accu­rate. I couldn’t believe how geeky too—with the tran­sits, con­junc­tions, sex­tiles and degrees, not to men­tion how they con­nect­ed place­ments of today with his­tor­i­cal ones, show­ing how the sit­u­a­tions par­al­leled. I for­feit­ed the news for their week­ly videos and found myself hap­pi­er and much more pro­duc­tive. Not to men­tion, opti­mistic. As a result of watch­ing reg­u­lar­ly, I learned a lot about astrol­o­gy with­out try­ing. And it’s been seep­ing into my poems in play­ful and mys­ti­cal ways. Some of my friends have start­ed fol­low­ing the same astrologers. Oth­er friends roll their eyes at me when I men­tion it. Either way, this self-imposed delu­sion or enlight­en­ment luck­i­ly result­ed in my next book of poems called Cos­mic Idiot.

These poems fea­ture the plan­ets, the zodi­ac and sci­en­tif­ic fig­ures like Fibonac­ci, Can­tor (the math­e­mati­cian) and astro­physi­cist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I try to mix phi­los­o­phy and facts with play­ful­ness and humor. It’s added new lay­ers and tex­tures to my work and pro­vides a new lex­i­con and palette. Astrol­o­gy is an ancient art that cross­es many cul­tures. And it’s becom­ing more and more main­stream, which the astrologers pre­dict­ed a few years ago, say­ing as Plu­to enters Aquar­ius, astrol­o­gy will gain popularity.

Go ahead. You can roll your eyes. But hope you like the poems.

Michael Montlack’s third poet­ry col­lec­tion COSMIC IDIOT will be pub­lished by Sat­ur­na­lia. He is the edi­tor of the Lamb­da Final­ist essay anthol­o­gy My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them (Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin Press). His work has appeared in Poet­ry Dai­ly, Prairie Schooner, Cincin­nati Review, Lit, Epoch, Alas­ka Quar­ter­ly Review, Phoebe and oth­er mag­a­zines. He lives in NYC and teach­es poet­ry work­shops at NYU and CUNY City College.