New Constellations by Tricia Knoll

Each rotation around the sun I vow the same thing: “this is the year I chart my own course. This time it will be different.” But I’m already different, by the very nature of time. Maybe this will be the year I am comfortable with myself.


Photo Courtesy Brian Landis

Tricia Knoll

New Constellations

The past’s invisible signpost
casts a crook shadow.
I’ve done the lost-scout-in-the woods
comes-full-circle-round
more than once
back to that jagged stile.

I paint the post blue
with gold letters that point
to tomorrow and
plant a sweet potato vine
for the bees to find honey.
When a bit of gold slops
on my overalls,
I make up names
for new constellations.


Toast was a weekly email newsletter that ran from July 2018 to March 2019. All of the pieces from Toast’s run and more can be read in Solo Novo 5/6.

  • Glenna Luschei, Abiding Publisher and Editor Emeritus
  • Benjamin Daniel Lawless, Editor in Chief
  • Tom Harrington, Contributing Editor
  • Rena Ferro, Managing Editor
  • Brian Landis, Photographer and Advisor