Waking Up

by Zoe Etkin

I’m belted in stars
lassos of stars

in the middle of my room strung up like a Christmas tree

My mother decorating me
My mother hanging tinsel from my eyelashes
My father in the dark doorway
nearly visible

The world inside me is full of shine
filament  brain
glass eyes

It has a lot of work to do
inventing all of the things that need inventing

The whole body of my world
ornamented
Bright organs orbiting
my torso

There at the center
a light is forming
a pulsating star

Zoe Etkin was born in Memphis and has made her way to Los Angeles to earn her MFA in Writing at CalArts. She is a recipient of the Beutner Award for Excellence in the Arts. Her work appears in Burning Word and Poetry South and is forthcoming in [PANK].