Poets love lights in the dark
The full moon on winter snow
Flashlights in blackened caverns
Fireflies on summer nights
Cats' eyes shining just after midnight
Years ago
First job out of college
In a crumbling three-room apartment
Long days, little money, little hope
On the ceiling, just over the bed
A lonely plastic glow-in-the-dark star
A leftover artifact from
A former 8-year-old resident
I fell asleep every night
Staring at the single star on my dark ceiling
The single green-glowing star
In an expanse of popcorn-plastered shadow
A green blob glimpsed through fluttering eyelids
Before being swallowed by slumber
I moved out months later
But left the star glued to the ceiling
In case someone else needed
A glimmer of light
In an endless night
Poets love lights in the dark