Pandora's Collective Poetry Contest (2017)
​3rd Place Winner

Backbone of the Night

‘The backbone of the night’ is the term the people of the Kalahari Desert use to describe what is
also known as the Milky Way.

I will grow thin in the dark matter
that torques the arms of the galaxy
and spews forth particles of light
like foam on the crest of an ocean wave

I grow thin in Vancouver
surrounded by abundance
and on the streets of Bangkok
clogged with water and traffic.
I grow thin in Durban
with dust dogging my heels –
the crunch of my steps on gravel
like the sound of static coming from
the interstices of stars.

I will grow thin in San Francisco
and New York from exchanges of blood
and secret yearnings.

I grow thin
in the jails of New Orleans
and Angola prison
from my own ignorance
and from others’.

I will grow thin
until the day comes
to lie on the ground
look up at the backbone of the night
and ask the earth to accept my geometry.

- Adrienne Drobnies ​