Poems by Angela Sucich
Black Hole, or, Ultra-Sound Theory of General Relativity
Night of Orion and Taurus
after Jericho Brown
Been in a bad relationship with the world.
Try to tiptoe past the roaring it makes.
A bellow is a roar a horned animal makes
pawing dirt, back arching, head shaking.
How many nights end with one of us shaking?
The drinking glass floats through space.
I imagine planetary bodies colliding in space
as the meteorite strikes the nightstand.
By muscle memory I can reach my nightstand,
hand knowing where to grasp the lamp chain
the way I always find Orion’s belt, lamps in a chain,
dots in a line making the full picture clear.
Shards on the floor spiral like galaxies. We clear
stellar remnants at 3 AM, sweeping then dabbing
wet paper towels, tiniest slivers. Bare feet dabbing,
still cut by a bad relationship with the world.
Angela Sucich‘s poems appear in RHINO, Nimrod, SWWIM, and Consequence Forum. She was honorably mentioned for the Pablo Neruda Prize (2021) and Francine Ringold Award (2020). A poet with a PhD in Medieval Literature, Sucich published a chapbook, Illuminated Creatures (Finishing Line, 2023), which won the New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition. She lives in Leavenworth, Washington, with her husband and daughter.
Table of Contents for A Formal Feeling