Doris Lynch
Stopping for the Stars
Nights, when we six kids get rowdy, Dad threatens to unspool his special Marine belt. His words sound harsh, all Sturm und Drang, solar flares flaming. But this night driving home from his mother’s in Malvern, Pa., Dad flicks the car lights off, tilts his head out the window, and yells, “Now or Never!” He commands us kids to rush out of the blue-finned Chevy. Raising his right arm, he guides our eyes toward three planets overhead, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter, uncharacteristically close together. As a lone satellite traipses its secret orbit across the sky, we stand half in fear of our car being rammed, half in awe of the beautiful tableau above, proud that Dad, an aeronautical engineer, helped design these satellites. These man-made jewels revolving around stars is Dad’s idea of heaven.
Alzheimer’s
reeling off the planets’ names
still counting Pluto
About the Author
Doris Lynch’s collections include Swimming to Alaska (Bottom Dog Press) and Meteor Hound, both published in 2023. She has won fellowships from the Alaska Council on the Arts, the Indiana Arts Council, and the Chester H. Jones Foundation, and awards from the Poetry Society of America, Genjuan International Haibun Contest, and the Haiku Society of America Haibun Contest.