Holly Woodward
Monday
You cannot retrace even a millisecond. Do not check that old flame’s posts on social media. Try not to kill anybody today, it’s only Monday.
Tuesday
There is a moment the caterpillar loses its mind and makes up another butterfly brain. How does the mind change its mind? Do not resist the necessary metamorphosis.
Wednesday
Horoscopes based on the day of your death would be more accurate.
Thursday
No matter how many battles you win against your mother, you’ll lose the war.
Friday
You are lucky to have survived the week, so far. But, death may lurk on Tinder, looking hot, and eager to meet you anywhere, anytime, for whatever twisted kicks you desire.
Saturday
The earth spins as the planet circles the sun, while our galaxy hurls us in another direction, and that itself hurtles further toward the edges of space from the force of the Big Bang. The eyes of stars shift. The constellations’ ancient bones break and are recast. Capricorn’s hooves scrabble through outer space. Don’t try to walk a straight line—especially for a cop.
Sunday
Tonight, the wind that has been searching all its life for your skin, lifts the little hairs on your forearms, and then moves on. Tilt your head back. The stars are so far away they sparkle cold, but they burn for you, they have burned to light your path through the dark since the start of time.
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Holly Woodward is a writer and artist. She’s working on a novel about a Russian poet who becomes one of the famed women snipers, in World War II and a Moscow actress who become part of the Red Orchestra network of spies fighting the Nazis. She combines her poetry, calligraphy, and painting into handmade books. She served as writer in residence at St. Albans, Washington National Cathedral, and was a fellow for four years at CUNY Graduate Center’s Writers’ Institute. She earned her BA from the College of Letters at Wesleyan University, her MFA in fiction at Columbia University, where she was a Woolrich fellow, and a PhD at SUNY Binghamton. She enjoyed a year as a doctoral fellow at Moscow University. She also studied at Leningrad University. Find her on Twitter @HollyWoodward.