Variation on a Theme (Princeton)

by Kirsten Kaschock

I expected to be applauded—
Instead my grandmother burst into tears.

She wouldn’t live
to see (she smoked) me
caravan her Airstream

into a low and private orbit.

Virtual space and Space
are part of my same project
: bigger, infiniter.

I come by it
honestly. My inheritance—

a gift from the Enlightenment.

I loved and wor–
shipped them. You

Kant take that away
from me. The absolute scope.
Even now I read Borges

and schematize the sublime.

My library is
über-usable plus
doubles as bulldozer.

Sustainability: to make clear
a path beyond asymptotic growth.

If I blast I do it to get and keep us up

—to thwart decay. I am
for well-supported risk. No

limits. All choices made are made
by power of will. My will I own.
It was written on earth–just as

one day I may laser my obituary down–

from my covey of
rooms on the moon

Poem first published in Relentless by Jeff Bezos

---

About the Author:

Kirsten Kaschock is the author of three books of poetry: Unfathoms (Slope Editions) and A Beautiful Name for a Girl (Ahsahta Press), and The Dottery, winner of the Donald Hall Prize for poetry from AWP (University of Pittsburgh Press). Her debut novel, Sleight, a work of speculative fiction, was published by Coffee House Press. A chapbook WindowBoxing is out from Bloof Books. She has earned a PhD in English from the University of Georgia and a PhD in dance from Temple University. She is on the faculty at Drexel University.