the universe is made of distance and of dust

I need to get back in the habit of posting poems in the morning, because I keep forgetting until late in the day, or forgetting completely—although in my defense, I have had houseguests (wonderful houseguests, but houseguests nonetheless) for pretty much two straight weeks. Anyway, my awesome friend ashpags, herself a badass lady astronomer, directed me to this wonderful poem inspired by Henrietta Leavitt.

      After Henrietta Leavitt, astronomer

The difference between luminosity and brightness
is the difference between being

and being perceived, between the energy emitted
and the apparent magnitude. O, to be

significant! To have some scope and scale!
Size and heat. Why not make that obvious,

ostensible, stretch it out for all the world to see?
Distance makes a world of difference.

The universe is made of distance and of dust.
More dust than star out there,

more crimson than cobalt from here, looking,
our eyes telling the truth slant

through the almost-nothing
of the universe’s finely grained mattering.

—Anna Leahy (b. 1965), "The Habits of Light" from Aperture (2017). You can read more about the poem, and Henrietta Leavitt, and watch Anna Leahy read the poem aloud (if that's your thing) at brainpickings.