Sky at Night

We did not walk hand in hand
beneath the night sky, nor look up
at the menagerie of stars or find
our own astrological map,

or crabs and fish swimming
among planets. Neither did we see
lions stalking goats, hunters wrestling
bulls and rams, horses running free.

What we saw was black velvet
cushioning stars like diamonds,
winking eyes of those we have met,
loved for what seemed like a second

in the vastness of infinity—the mystery
of the universe and its endless trickery.

Kim M. Russell, 6th August 2026

Image by Philipp Lansing on Unsplash

This will be my last poem before I set off for the Isle of Wight, and it happens to be for a Meeting the Bar prompt at the dVerse Poets Pub with Björn as our host.

We’re returning to one of Björn’s favourite poetic tools: negation, or via negativa, and it was last used in a prompt (by Björn) in 2018. I wrote a sonnet for that one.

Björn has given us a brief background and an excellent example from the 17th sonnet by Pablo Neruda.

He says that negations can be used to question the usual, and we should remember to combine our negation with a list using neither/nor, maybe in the end coming up with that perfect metaphor for our feelings. Another tip is to work with opposites, maybe negating both. We could also take an old poem and negate something, and see what happens.

28 thoughts on “Sky at Night”

  14. What a beautiful use of negation, Kim! By telling us what you didn’t see, you illuminate what you did — stars not as constellations but as diamonds, winking eyes of those we’ve loved. That final turn to ‘the mystery of the universe and its endless trickery’ is perfect. The poem moves beyond astronomy into something intimate and profound. Lovely!

    Love & Hugs
    Khadija 💕🤗

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.