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Nina Rubinstein Alonso, Editor of Constellations, has published in Ploughshares, The New Yorker, Sumac, Avatar, Women-Poems, U. Mass. Review, and New Boston Review, among other places, and her first book, This Body, was printed by Godine Press. She taught English literature at Brandeis University and U. Mass., Boston, while continuing training in ballet and exploring modern dance. Saturated with academia, she taught at Boston Ballet for eleven years, and performed in their Nutcracker, until sidelined by injuries. She makes her living teaching at Fresh Pond Ballet in Cambridge, MA. She says, “Now is the time for fresh voices in poetry and fiction. I’m looking for a new constellation.”

Aqua Saucepan

Nina Rubinstein Alonso

Before leaving DC

I bought an aqua saucepan

for my next life

hid it in a suitcase

packed with messy secrets

careful to provide no hints

waiting my chance

to escape as he refuses to

agree it’s over

I’m in a magical crowd

heartened by Martin’s dream

lifted by Joan’s song

gathering strength to push forward

next day while he’s at work

take a cab to the airport

crash on a friend’s

couch no idea where

I’ll live or when it’ll feel

safe to stop running

kick off my shoes breathe

heat up a can of soup.

— Nina Rubinstein Alonso

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