#charles simic

Horoscopes, 5.14.21

**I am currently offering astrology and tarot consults at a sliding-scale price. I will increase these prices in June so book now by messaging me or emailing [email protected] to secure the lower cost. Find out more info here and follow along hereandhere. **

Aries: “On Pruning,” Allison Funk

Do not be afraid to pinch the first,

the only blossom. The berry cannot thrive

in freedom. Have no mercy,

gardener. 

Taurus: “Gitanjali 83,” Rabindranath Tagore

Wealth and fame come from thee and it is for thee to give or to withhold them. But this my sorrow is absolutely mine own, and when I bring it to thee as my offering thou rewardest me with thy grace.

Gemini: “Deathwish,”  VIVEK NARAYANAN

I want to hold in me the heat of my combustion

and leave this sweat-smear as a resurrection:

I want to be sweet and clear and free,

insouciant, insufferable, just like me.

Cancer: “The Late Wisconsin Spring,” John Koethe

But now the mental dance of solitude resumes,   

And life seems smaller, placed against the background   

Of this story with the empty, moral quality of an expansive   

Gesture made up out of trees and clouds and air.

Leo: “The Fish’s Desire,” Shuzo Takiguchi

My whole body.

In the fossilized water that brightens day by day

my desire still swims.

I, bastard child of the giant chandelier called the blue sky.

No one calls me the sphinx of love.

In a jasper fable, my dream

glittered all the more blue.

Virgo: “Self-Portrait in a Horsehair Wig,” 

As ever in perfect dress, minds spinning

With whirlwind of the world’s questions.

In a room of hard-pasted porcelain and water clocks,

You’ll press your slender fingers at the hinge,

Discover a hidden winter trapped in a snuffbox.

Libra: “Who Lights the Way,” Alejandra Pizarnik

“When you look at me

my eyes are keys,

the wall holds secrets,

and my fear carries words, poems.

Only you can turn my memory

into a fascinated traveler,

a relentless fire.”

Scorpio: “The Root of Mother is Moth,” Terese Svoboda

 From the mirror, she draws what little light

there is inside her, and sighs.

                           But she is really very young

                 and will think so later.

Now nothing can claim her.

               I am quiet, all chrysalis,

                         hidden in her closet.

Sagittarius: “[the romance of you],” Jack Meriwether

Your beauty is a life-force I don’t need

To overthink. When I imagine holding you again

Its like making coffee in the kitchen.

It feels like sunlight hitting me on the sidewalk.

Loving you every day would be as simple

And deserved as breakfast each morning.

Capricorn: “The White Room,” Charles Simic

“Gods disguising themselves

As black hairpins, a hand mirror,

A comb with a tooth missing?

No! That wasn’t it.

Just things as they are,

Unblinking, lying mute

In that bright light—

And the trees waiting for the night.”

Aquarius: “Saturday Night,” Alice Ostriker

At the intersection of poverty and plague

The planet’s children—brave, uncontrollable, juiced

Out of their gourds—invent the sacred dance.

Pisces: “Grandpa,” Diana Marie Delgado

no english 

in his spine

just asleep 

like jesus 

he is a cloud

admit it

**I am currently offering astrology and tarot consults at a sliding-scale price. I will increase these prices in June so book now by messaging me or emailing [email protected] to secure the lower cost. Find out more info here and follow along hereandhere. **