Poetic License Horoscope for April 29-May 5

Taurus (April 19-May 18): “We are strong, we are faithful/ we are guardians of a rare thing/ we pay close careful attention/ to the news the morning air brings/ we show great loyalty /to the hard times we've been through.”(The Mountain Goats) Gather everybody up, Taurus, and hang on ‘til your knuckles are white.

Gemini (May 19-June 21): Velcro your feet to the ground and wait for the mail to come. You can hope for be-stickered an, handwritten letters, on time and with stamps marked “Celebrate.” So celebrate!

Cancer (June 22-July 23): Switching from winter clothes to summer clothes reminds me of you, all lacy and bright, all glittered and optimistic. Fold up all the sweaters and throw out bedraggled boots. Keep out only the most flowered scarves.

Leo (July 24-Aug. 23): I fell in love with my wife for her Texas accent, and I am just as in love with her family for the same and other reasons. Notice the speech patterns of daily love. Notice its turns and its terms and its phrases. Memorize every consonance, each elision.

Virgo (Aug. 24-Sept. 23): “Like a jack-in-the-box/ / Like a hundred-thousand cuckoo clocks /From the Oregon corners /To the Iowa corn/ To the rooms with the heat lamps where the snakes get born.” (The Mountain Goats) That’s you. That’s your heart. Love it.

Libra (Sept. 24-Oct. 21): Oh, my dear sweet Libra, you can leave it on the field if you want to, or on the stage, or on the dance floor. Or you can carry it like a locket, like a splinter, like treat.

Scorpio (Oct. 22-Nov. 22): “The cakes were too pretty to eat. Mary and Laura just looked at them. But at last Laura turned hers over, and she nibbled a tiny nibble from underneath, where it wouldn’t show.”( Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie) Do the opposite of that.

Sagittarius (Nov. 23-Dec. 22): Every city will welcome you, don’t worry. They are all full of students, and poems, and comic book shops that need staffing. They’re waiting with weddings and book parties and lifelong friends, all of them. Go there.

Capricorn (Dec. 23-Jan. 20): If today is a job interview, you are wearing the exactly right thing. Your hair is perfect and smooth. You’re wearing pretty jewelry, but not so much that it jangles. You say just the right things and remember to ask at least one question. You are so very, very hired.

Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19): Find yourself where you always do, in your to To Do list. Build the future in check boxes, in workouts and rehearsals. Study your math and hope for a more romantic horoscope next week, it’ll come back, I promise.


Pisces (Feb. 20-March 20): See Capricorn. Also: high five!

Aries (March 21-April 18): There’s a little mystery in what you’re looking for—sleuth it out! dust for longing-prints and peer around with a magnifying glass ground especially for wistfulness. Make list of possible suspects and start making calls.

Poetic License Horoscopes is a free syndicated series which appears weekly on such lit blogs as The Serotonin Factory, Critical Mass http://citypaper.net/blogs/criticalmass/2011/02/04/poetic-license-horoscopes-feb-4-10/ and The Legendary http://www.downdirtyword.com/horoscopespage and Apiary http://theapiarycorp.com/ If you are interested in adding the Poetic License Horoscopes to your lit journal / lit blog, please email me at serotoninfactory@gmail.com.