Path of Totality
by Niina Pollari
(published in her 2022 book, Path of Totality, by Soft Skull Press)
Something set you into motion. A chain of events. Rain
falling into a series of cups on a chain, then into a small yard
where a small ecosystem drinks it.
Something set you into motion. The love I felt for your father
when we drive past the mountain house and snapped a few
blurred pictures. We talked about the house the whole drive
back to New York. The house, a few weeks later, belonged to
us. Its dusty corners, its mice in the refrigerator motor.
Something set you into motion. When we signed the docu-
ments, we were in the path of totality. To you, to ourselves
after we had known you.
From the day of the eclipse, I began, though you wouldn't
form in me for months. But I pledged you my fat and the
eyebrows from my face.
On the day of the eclipse, we watched the sky until a hole
formed in it and absorbed us. We watched the sky until
there was a navel in the universe, and I traveled through
it like a nutrient into your veins. Small vessels formed be-
tween us. A web formed, drops gleaming on it from my
intent. Your fingers, still ghostly, broke the surface tension
when they reached from the ether to touch it.
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