Pollution is Killing the View

https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/globe-at-night-light-pollution-stars-sky/

The sky’s priceless. How will we assess
view taxes when pollution congeals like
a final Jello shot and stars can’t peek
through anymore. Nothing’s visible
in the same ways. Better technology is sad
grace. We’re finding more infinity. A child born
in an area of 250 stars will see only 100 by age 18.
Less stars are visible but we’re checking the people
checking the math. Less stars, the sky’s face lurking
in a luxury scarf. Less stars under the scratchy
tulle of a 90s prom dress. Less stars in the gauzy
wraps of ankle sprain. Love and miss you, we post
to the world or at least what’s within it. Look closer,
the sky’s becoming brighter; all the better
to burn you with. The wolves in us know
hunger, feel finite. What will we do? The sky’s a lacy
gown bought with stubborn love. Lift its veil
to kiss it’s aging face of want.

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Jennifer R. Edwards’ collection, Unsymmetrical Body (Finishing Line Press), was a 2023 Eric Hoffer Poetry Honorable Mention, First Horizon Finalist, and Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe Award Finalist. Her poems have received fellowships, Pushcart and BOTN nominations, and the New England Poetry Club Amy Lowell Prize. Her poems appear in anthologies and journals including RHINO, Emerge Literary Journal, Mom Egg Review, One Art, Terrain, Gyroscope Review, and Passengers Journal. She’s a MFA candidate at Bennington Writing Seminars, neurodiversity-affirming speech-language pathologist, and Poetry Society of NH events coordinator. https://linktr.ee/JenEdwards X: @Jennife00420145  Insta: Jenedwards8