Ode to Pluto
by Kelli Russell Agodon
I keep hoping for a reinstatement, for Pluto
to return to the end of the line of planets,
the period, the punctuation of the galaxy.
It wasn’t so long ago, we were planetary,
a speck of dark matter floating around
the Milky Way, our parents’ universe. Pluto,
pint-sized and possible, spinning and spun,
but now not a planet—a satellite, a sorry
bit of moon, rockheavy, extra. Maybe we found
ourselves misplaced as children, alone or adrift,
always at the end of every kindergarten line.
Sometimes we found ourselves overlooked,
too little to be noticed, sometimes lost in a crowd.
But when we emerged small and trying
to return to our families, like you, Pluto,
we’d find our galaxy of parents who we hoped
searched for us when we were away.
Agodon (@kelliagodon) is a poet, writer, editor, book designer, & cofounder of Two Sylvias Press living in the Seattle area. She was the Winner of Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year Prize in Poetry as well as a two-time Finalist for the Washington State Book Awards. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, New England Review, and O, The Oprah Magazine.
This poem originally appeared in the Rejection issue. For more inspiring stories about dealing with rejection, check out From Tehran to Tehrangeles: Iranian Women’s Rejection of Body Hair and No Great Women Artists: A Lesson to Be Learned.