Star Guide
A poem by Bruce McRae

Star Guide

The Insomniac’s Guide to the Stars,
its numberless blank spaces
and the smudge of gravity
for those who don’t like reading.
A vast assortment of corners
where the sleepless go for brief respite.
A variety of darknesses
for the discerning nighthawk.

It’s dark. It’s night.
But a light is burning
like a restive mind,
the last person on Earth
sleepwalking across the universe.

It’s a banquet in a season of scarcity,
stars like cats’ eyes and embers,
my personal downfall in full swing.
It’s a map of midnight and how to get there,
with new names for old constellations,
new gods and angels,
the sleepless one tugging on a curtain,
planets where his eyes should be,
comets foreshadowing death
and the way uncertain.

About the Author:

Bruce McRae, a Canadian musician, is a multiple Pushcart nominee with poems published in hundreds of magazines such as Poetry, Rattle and the North American Review. The winner of the 2020 Libretto prize and author of four poetry collections and seven chapbooks, his poems have been broadcast and performed globally.

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