by Stephanie Gunnz
The Voyage of Us: A Myth
tonight’s August stars tumble
down and swarm
like bees about my head and
swirl and swirl in the late summer
heat until, like swallows, they take
the shape of a woman and that woman is
you and your star-fingers
caress my face with
infinite sadness—
the bird-woman’s soft kiss burns,
lingers as she bursts into
a cloud of showering sparks
that carpet the silver lawn and
hiss into the gentle sea,
then ascend again into the
towering black bowl
of the mirrored sky—
but of course we know
you are not made of stars or birds
and you have not taken a god’s place
in the heavens and
I lie here beside you
in the soft ship of our bed
but still—
as I listen to your breath’s rhythm
and as moonlight filters through sheer dancing curtains
I imagine our children’s children pointing up
at the bright evening star of us
whispering there
there they are
Dean Charpentier is a writer and teacher of literature and creative writing living in North Andover, MA, where he was a recent winner of the Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest. His poetry has most recently appeared on the podcast One Poem Only, as well as in BODY Magazine, Expressionist Magazine, Eunoia Review, Wild Roof Journal, English Journal, and upcoming in Remington Review. You can find his stories in Fiction Southeast and Bright Flash Literary Review, and his non-fiction in Andovers Magazine. He has spent an over 30-year career in education attempting to chip away at the canon from the inside, like escaping from Shawshank. Accomplices in this mission are wife Lori, daughter Taylor, son JP, and pandemic goldendoodle Odin, whose barking would surely give them all up in a zombie apocalypse. Nonetheless, they will keep him. Instagram: @mrcharps Bluesky: @mrcharps.bsky.social.
Stephanie Gunnz is artist, lyricist and poet from Slovakia. Her work is mostly inspired by dreams or daydreams. She makes art for about 15 years now but just recently she started to publish her work in online magazines.