When I opened my eyes in the Canyon,
outside deep in the night,
the moon had set.
It seemed a hallucination,
that somehow the canyon
was a telescope
transporting me closer
than I can ever remember to stars.
Oh what stars! So large, so brilliant
so dazzling, I stared so hard it seemed
they were moving parts
of celestial beings in long gowns
dancing in the night.
It was this promise that placed me
each subsequent sleep
outside on the sand,
river’s slip and burble soundtrack,
gobsmacked
under the firmament
of a believable heaven.
Celia Turner is a Loveland published poet in Northern Colorado Writers and Columbine Poets annual anthologies, Poetry Potion and winner of the 2020 Denver Women’s Press Club Unknown Writer’s Contest. She regularly studies poetry, takes workshops and classes. The Grind online practice of a daily poem submitted to a random participating group each month has been a boon. Poetry for her is an ongoing intimate conversation she continues to have with those unmet but not unknown.