How to Observe the Horsehead Nebula

Do not replay the same dark horse,
the same perspective others dealt.

Aim Hubble's wide field camera
near Alnitak, Orion's Belt:

the old made new in infrared,
the horse's head now dusky rose

a primadonna girt with stars
preening in picture-perfect pose.

Or shut your eyes and journey back
to Boston, eighteen eighty-eight

where Williamina Fleming
peers at a photographic plate—

tired, perhaps, or missing Scotland,
dreaming thoughts above her station,

abandoned wife, single mother—
first to see that indentation.

back to issue

Mary Soon Lee was born and raised in London, but has lived in Pittsburgh for thirty years. She is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and three-time winner of both the AnLab Readers' Award and the Rhysling Award. Her latest poetry book, "How to Navigate Our Universe," answers vexing questions such as "How to Surprise Saturn" and "How to Survive a Black Hole." She hides her online presence with a cryptically named website (marysoonlee.com and an equally cryptic Twitter account (@MarySoonLee).