Poetry Review Special Feature: "Twinkle Twinkle" by Sierra July

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present "Twinkle Twinkle," a previously unpublished poem by Sierra July.  Ms. July is a University of Florida graduate, writer, and poet.  Her fiction has appeared in Robot and Raygun, T. Gene Davis’s Speculative Blog, and Perihelion Science Fiction, among other places.  Her poetry has appeared in Songs of Eretz Poetry E-zine, Star*Line, and Eye to the Telescope.  To follow her progress, check out her website: talestotellinpassing.blogspot.com.

Twinkle Twinkle
Sierra July

Cruising a museum, my parents mutter don’t touch,

But the guide smiles and I poke a stuffed grizzly bear

(Don’t think the great teddy minds).

Only the guide sees, and ignores.

Past the dead animals are wax people and then

Stars, planets, billons of burning things painted on

The domed roof where they dance like

Ballerinas, twinkle-toes.

The guide rants info, “This is yatta-yatta, that . . .”

That’s my memory: words too large to understand,

Sky too vast to comprehend,

Way too far to touch and yet,

With me, as if in clinched fist

Trapped so I can peak at it,

Always.

Poet’s Notes:  This was written when thinking back on my childhood, specifically my class trips to museums. If I’d visited with my parents, I doubt I would’ve had the nerve to touch a display but I wanted to write about a child who was gutsy enough to dare. Looking up at the night sky, I thought I had to include the wonder of seeing a planetarium for the first time. That feeling of being small and yet so, so free, limitless, and that the future is in your hands.

Editor's Note:  I like the story here--one to which I and no doubt most readers may relate.  There is a gentle rhythm to Ms. July's free verse that moves the poem along nicely, and her closing tercet contains a beautiful metaphor.