In Spite of Everything the Stars

clipped from survey.constantcontact.com

Like a stunned piano, like a bucket

of fresh milk flung into the air

or a dozen fists of confetti

thrown hard at a bride

stepping down from the altar,

the stars surprise the sky.

Think of dazed stones

floating overhead, or an ocean

of starfish hung up to dry. Yes,

like a conductor's expectant arm

about to lift toward the chorus,

or a juggler's plates defying gravity,

or a hundred fastballs fired at once

and freezing in midair, the stars

startle the sky over the city.

EDWARD HIRSH

This is one of the poems to be voted on by Portland's Poetry in Motion.