by Gayathri Kakarparthi
Light pollution
Sometimes it just gets too damn bright & there’s no way
to see beyond the trees, a green halo of backyards cut the moon
into fragments, transmutes reflected starlight into the buzz
of a floodlight fixed to a lamppost two houses down. I am too
good at piecing it all together, trained to see connections between
the things that don’t fit, little scraps of language, of laughter; pieces
of plot; consider the reflected light of a neon sign caught in the lens
of his glasses as he walks away. It all lives in me somewhere, rewritten
in my perspective — the moon without her guts pulled out by the trees,
her edges untouched by small-town paranoia. I may not be able to see
the sky for what it is as I crouch in my backyard huddled over a second-hand
telescope, buzzed & flipping through a thrift-store sky guide by flashlight,
but I’ve seen it all before – the open throat of the night bleeding darkness
into the alleys along Sunset Strip; broad-shouldered pine trees huddled
in a deep forest, cradling stars with their outstretched bows; the unbroken
blink of horizon hovering over a neverending stretch of Ohio freeway.
The outstretched fingers of the human brain, touching each scene
with reverence as it rearranges them to fill the gaps. A voice inside
whispers, & still, there is so much you’ve yet to see.
LE Francis (she/her) is a writer, visual artist, & musician living in the pacific northwest. She is a former arts journalist & the current managing editor of Sage Cigarettes Magazine. She is a staff writer & illustrator for Cream Scene Carnival. She is a co-host & editor of the Ghost in the Magazine podcast. Find her online at nocturnical.com. Twitter @nocturnical & Instagram @n0cturnical.
Gayathri Kakarparthi is a fine artist and digital illustrator from Chennai, India. Her work is inspired by the beauty of the natural world and the magic in the ordinary. With the belief that art can act as a catalyst for personal growth, she invites viewers to explore their own feelings and emotions through her art. gayathrikakarparthi.com https://www.instagram.com/gayathri_kakarparthi/.