Like the muscles of a gull push on its breastbone
to complete a miracle of gravity,
so does my chest swell.

I felt it first

The night he showed me how to find the North star,
as if he knew that I have been lost at sea
for some time now.

As if he was taught as a small boy
the way he could lead someone home.

Ursa Major smiled from her seat in heaven
and gesturing north to remind us that
we are no longer lost.

But she is blind and she is cruel.

I knew it first

the night he showed me how to find the North star,
as love began to seep through my veins.

Ursa Major smiled and extended her claws
towards the North.

My boat had already lost its steering
but the sweep of his tide kept me
drifting in loose circles

Ursa Major closed her clouded eyes
and I lost my direction.

He called to me, gull voices through the storm

High up on the far back wall
in the back of the factory
where I sell my free time
is a constellation of dirt, chipped paint
and cobwebs
forming the shape
of a bear
lounging in a hammock

I have coworkers who insist
that it's a monkey,
trapped in a net
but they are wrong.
It's clearly a bear

Ursa Somniculosa,
or, as the layman may call it
the Little Napper

No matter where I am on the floor,
I can see him hanging there in his hammock
enjoying his perpetual vacation
maybe sipping on a nice tall beer
soaking up the sun -

not being a trapped monkey
like all of us down here

Oh enchanting stars
Speak to me of your stories
Tell me of the Bear's scars
And how he earned his glories
A family torn apart
By the love of the eldest sister and a bear
The father killing the bear causing them to depart
Enkindling her to turn herself into a bear and causing despair
Youngest, magic one, save your siblings
From your once beloved sister
Shoot your arrows in the sky and end the killings
Turn each one of them into stars spawning a blister
As any can see with an eye
The story is forever imprinted in the sky