For the next six days Literary Hub will help in counting down the days until the seventh-annual Irish Arts Center PoetryFest begins by publishing a poem, as selected by festival co-curator Belinda McKeon.
My God, It’s Full Of Stars (Excerpt), by Tracy K. Smith
. . . My father spent whole seasons
Bowing before the oracle eye, hungry for what it would find.
His face lit-up whenever anyone would ask, and his arms would rise
As if he were weightless, perfectly at ease in the never-ending
Night of space. On the ground, we tied postcards to balloons
For peace. Prince Charles married Lady Di. Rock Hudson died.
We learned new words for things. The decade changed.
The first few pictures came back blurred, and I felt ashamed
For all the cheerful engineers, my father and his tribe. The second time,
The optics jibed. We saw to the edge of all there is—
So brutal and alive it seemed to comprehend us back.
Literary Hub is a proud sponsor of Irish Arts Center PoetryFest.
