The chutzpah of heliocentrism
knocks me out. Luther dubbed
Copernicus an upstart astrologer:
something from the business card
of a freelance millennial.
Copernicus was Silesian,
his given surname Kopernik or
Koppernigk, Polish or German.
He Latinized himself in Padua
and knew 4 languages besides:
Polish, German, Greek, Italian;
but little heeded orthographies.
Perhaps he found alphabets too
stringent, names too prescribed,
savored the sameness of stars
across our tongues. Whatever
makes one free.
Annie Diamond is a Connecticut native, currently living in Chicago. She earned her BA in English and creative writing from Barnard College. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in The Laurel Review, Cargoes, Misadventures, and other publications. She has been awarded fellowships by The MacDowell Colony, The Lighthouse Works, and Boston University, where she completed her MFA in 2017.