Small Magellanic Cloud
Lauren Camp
I was pulled to walk
through to the clouds my sister
says aren’t you lonely I am
not I wipe the constant fog
from my glasses I rummaged
a jacket a pair of wool socks to keep
standing outside in the whirl
of decentered truth a man
and buddies walk past yelling orange
anger I watch them behind me
the clouds recover
my own sense
of what’s gone and gone
and gotten ready
for us and no one
is looking at all this
precision
of color and nothing
is owed to us not
even darkness
Lauren Camp serves as New Mexico Poet Laureate. She is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently In Old Sky (Grand Canyon Conservancy, 2024). A former Astronomer-in-Residence at Grand Canyon National Park, Camp is a recipient of the Dorset Prize, finalist commendations for the Arab American Book Award and Adrienne Rich Award, and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and Black Earth Institute. Her poems have been translated into Mandarin, Turkish, Spanish, French, and Arabic. www.laurencamp.com