‘The Constellation Keeper’
Jill E. T. Bemis is a photographer and inspiring writer. She intertwines her passions for photography and writing to explore the complexities of family, nature, and personal storytelling. Engaging in nature photography allows her to exercise her body and mind. Writing allows her to reflect on her deep emotional needs and exercise her mind. Jill, a long-term government analyst, lives in Minnesota with her husband and Tiger the cat.
THE CONSTELLATION KEEPER
Each evening,
an old woman climbs
the hill behind town
carrying a bucket
filled with stars.
Not stars themselves:
their names.
Orion.
Lyra.
Cygnus.
The things that vanish first.
She hangs them carefully
among the branches.
By morning
they glitter between leaves.
Children walking to school
point upward.
Look:
the sky is nesting
in the trees.
No one knows
how long she has done this.
Years.
Decades.
Perhaps since the first factory
taught smoke
to imitate clouds.
The townspeople smile politely.
They call her eccentric.
Yet each autumn,
when another stand of forest
is cleared,
they notice
a few stars missing.
The woman grows older.
The bucket grows lighter.
One evening,
a child asks
why she bothers.
She studies the horizon,
where machines
are chewing through twilight.
Then she answers:
Because someone must remember
what belongs together.
The child considers this.
Above them,
the dark gathers
what remains.
And one by one,
the stars return
to their places
David Anson Lee is a poet, philosopher, and former academic ophthalmologist whose work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Right Hand Pointing, Braided Way, Ink Sweat & Tears, Eunoia Review, Silver Birch Press, The Scarred Tree, The Orchards, Journal of Undiscovered Poets, and Mouthful of Salt. Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, he often explores themes of memory, identity, landscape, medicine, environmental stewardship, and the enduring relationship between human beings and the natural world. His poetry combines lyrical imagery with philosophical reflection and is informed by a lifelong interest in literature, science, and Indigenous traditions. He lives in Texas and is currently assembling a collection of poems exploring ecological responsibility, cultural memory, and hope. Substack: https://davidalee.substack.com/
