FIRST QUARTER MOON, 2 DAYS LEFT
My Astronomy textbook says
open clusters of stars
are easier to study
than isolated stars
because they are almost
the same age
and have almost the same
chemical composition.
Scientists
get to know stars better
when they live in these clusters
than when they live
out
isolated
alone.
Then they are hard to study,
hard to tell
when they fade or glow.
I come out of my room,
to find April.
She’s drawing flyers for the AIDS Walk.
I sit down with her, ask her, please, if I can help.
She says sure, hands me white paper and a black pen.
I write in
black
bold:
FIGHT AIDS. WALK TALL.
Line my poster with
clusters of stars.