# Constellation in a Starry Night
***(With apologies to Vincent Van Gogh)***

**by Sandra Korey**

Suffering spiral shadows contorted in angry pain,
Wrung by a controlling force, Taurus rages
And rams his skull forward tearing the blue-black cape of night,
Snorting sparks singe pox scars of hot embers into the rippled
Cloak of darkness unfurled across the infinite ring.

Birth pangs force his budding horns,
Puncturing the whorled foreskin
Stretched taut between his ears,
Pushing forth his sole means of self-defense
Born in a distinctive crown of glory.

This magnificent muscled form, pared sleek
By the sharp edge of the grinding whetstone
Of shrill winds shrieking in turbulent storms,
Bows down a threatening head.
His hooves dance, stomping impatiently, scattering the inconvenient dirt.
Gapping clouds swallow flying clods of stinging dust.
The powerful trunk of his body sways
With the invisible rhythm swelling in the dark air.
He charges.

Paralyzed in suspended animation
This mighty creature fails to pierce the silent hymen
Separating heaven and earth.
OLE’.