Starlight

The albatross and I are more alike than different. 
We navigate long distances by starlight. 

Her tiny hypothalamus works as autopilot—
allows her to half-sleep while flying
from Alaska to the North Shore of Kauai
and back again.

At 4 a.m. on the second floor lanai 
looking up at the stars, I mistake myself 
for looking down—believe I am falling into them. 
Gemini, Orion, Cassiopeia. Below them, the bay.

In a half-dream toward dawn,
I chant eight syllables of devotional bliss;
ride air currents to the other shore of the night. 

The neighbors not near enough to mind my ecstasies. 
There is also the morning rustle of wind through palms,
Waves crash louder as the sky begins to grow light,
And a rooster has been crowing for hours.

Felice Alexandra is a poet-shaman, author, meditation lover, mentor, mother, and student of Christ Consciousness. She received her MFA in creative writing in Maine and Ireland. Her poems and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming in Askew, Orogeny, Segullah, Gyroscope Review,The Christian Science Monitor and others. She has performed her poetry for audiences around the US and Ireland. In 2025 she received the Leon Priestnall Prize for Poetry, and her first poetry chapbook is forthcoming in 2026 on Channel Poetry Press. She lives in California with her husband and fluffy dog.

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