"Planetarium" by Adrienne Rich

A woman in the shape of a monster
a monster in the shape of a woman
the skies are full of them

A woman in the shape of a monster
a monster in the shape of a woman
the skies are full of them

a woman 'in the snow
among the Clocks and instruments
or measuring the ground with poles'

a woman 'in the snow
among the Clocks and instruments
or measuring the ground with poles'

in her 98 years to discover
8 comets

she whom the moon ruled
like us
levitating into the night sky
riding the polished lenses

Galaxies of women, there
doing penance for impetuousness
ribs chilled
in those spaces of the mind

Galaxies of women, there
doing penance for impetuousness
ribs chilled
in those spaces of the mind

Galaxies of women, there
doing penance for impetuousness
ribs chilled
in those spaces of the mind

An eye,

'virile, precise and absolutely certain'
from the mad webs of Uranusborg

An eye,

'virile, precise and absolutely certain'
from the mad webs of Uranusborg

An eye,

'virile, precise and absolutely certain'
from the mad webs of Uranusborg

encountering the NOVA

every impulse of light exploding

from the core
as life flies out of us

encountering the NOVA

every impulse of light exploding

from the core
as life flies out of us

encountering the NOVA

every impulse of light exploding

from the core
as life flies out of us

Tycho whispering at last

'Let me not seem to have lived in vain'

I have been standing all my life in the
direct path of a battery of signals
the most accurately transmitted most
untranslatable language in the universe

I have been standing all my life in the
direct path of a battery of signals
the most accurately transmitted most
untranslatable language in the universe

I have been standing all my life in the
direct path of a battery of signals
the most accurately transmitted most
untranslatable language in the universe

I have been standing all my life in the
direct path of a battery of signals
the most accurately transmitted most
untranslatable language in the universe

I am an instrument in the shape
of a woman trying to translate pulsations
into images for the relief of the body
and the reconstruction of the mind.

I am an instrument in the shape
of a woman trying to translate pulsations
into images for the relief of the body
and the reconstruction of the mind.

I am an instrument in the shape
of a woman trying to translate pulsations
into images for the relief of the body
and the reconstruction of the mind.

I am an instrument in the shape
of a woman trying to translate pulsations
into images for the relief of the body
and the reconstruction of the mind.