I have to thank Emari DiGiorgio, another friend and writing partner, for asking me to link a poem to her birthday: January 2. I thought it would be fun to try writing an unconventional horoscope for her and today's piece is the result. I've titled it "Under the Sign of Titan". (That's Titan, Saturn's largest moon, posing above). You'll find an excerpt here and the whole piece here:

Under the Sign of Titan

For a Woman Born on January 2.

You are Friday’s child, though some weeks not. Other 

astrologists may insist on Capricorn, but there is also 

Andromeda who had much to evade and a tether to break. 

On the other hand, you would never tolerate a rescue. To 

create your totem animal, we would need a griffin 

and a swan, creatures both fierce and full of grace. Not

Saturn ascendant, but Titan...

The actual poem is intended to be set in a narrow column like a newspaper horoscope. You get the idea. One of the discoveries of this project is the fun and creative energy I receive from taking a non-poetic set of conventions--a dictionary definition, a medical diagnosis, a horoscope--and making a poem that uses some of that specialized language. The strategy is oddly freeing, leading me to juxtapose images and phrases it would not have occurred to me to mix together. And we're always looking for a surprise in the poetry game, aren't we? 

It occurs to me that someone out there might be able to think of one of these unpoetic forms I could take a shot at. If so go here, and leave the suggestion.