Joel Hawksley Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

On January 25, 2025, a captivating "planetary parade" will light up the night sky. Six planets—Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—will align in a wide arc, creating a stunning spectacle.

Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye, while Uranus and Neptune will require a telescope to observe. Although the alignment won't be perfectly straight, this rare opportunity to see several planets grouped together makes it an exciting event for both astronomy enthusiasts and casual observers.

Listen to poem:

Alignment, January 25, 2025

The night opens its throat to drink the stars,
a single gulp—planets arranged like beads
on the wrist of a God who hasn’t touched us yet.
Not like this: each orb polished smooth,
singing through its orbit like teeth
biting into the rind of silence.

We say the word alignment,
as if it’s simple—this gathering,
this choreography of fire and stone.
Jupiter swelling, a lung of gold.
Saturn, its rings the color of rusted clocks.
Each planet leaning forward, closer now,
like strangers on a train before it derails
into a new decade, or
a new hymn—

the kind only gravity hums, deep and low.
Do you hear it? Your body answers first:
a shiver, the sharp intake of breath,
as if you’d been kissed without warning.
Do you feel it? The turning,
the pull—how the earth beneath you bends
toward the sky’s open palm.

Tonight, the stars remind us
how small we are,
how massive our desires.
The universe presses its forehead
against ours. It says:
Go now. Write the letter.
Burn the bridge.

It says: Begin again.

Outside, the trees rearrange their shadows
on the ground. You can’t see it,
but their roots are reaching,
searching for something
older than water,
older than time.

The stars will scatter come morning.
What will you do with this alignment,
this single stitch of light
holding the fabric of everything
together—if only for a moment?

What will you become
before the thread breaks?

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