From Near Miss. Published by Nightwood Editions in 2019. Laura Matwichuk’s poems have appeared in literary journals in Canada and the US. She was a finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers and shortlisted for Arc Poetry Magazine’s Poem of the Year.
I’m supermassive: a black hole into which billions of suns have disappeared. Interstellar magnet, collapsed object, feature- less by design. Folks at Hubble speculate about my malevolence, futz around with digital renderings. Nestled deep inside elliptical galaxy NGC 4889, an egg-shaped swirl, I sulk and wait, knowing what I know. Whipped meringue monster in a porcelain mixing bowl. For now, all is quiet in squid-ink oblivion—I’ve lost my appetite for stars. Full of secrets, pent-up anxiety, I want someone to know me.