Maria Dorothea Schrattenholz (NO)

DARK SKY

 welcome home

to this planet,

terraformed by insects and their kin

here is too much light and not enough skin

here is a sky you have not yet seen

you are here to listen to the stories of the stone

you are here to draw the outline of your soul

you have stardust swirling through your bloodstream

your heart is kept warm by atmospheric friction

gravity is made from DNA molecules

air is made from the words you choose

to describe the night

stars are made from the breath you hold

and release like seeds taking flight

darkness pulls away from you to protect itself

you are here to place your palm on the firmament

you have a map under your skin

a memory of every microscopic event

you are here to collect sentient theories

and glowing echoes of nocturnal melodies

you are here to belong

magnetism feeds you and guides you

through all the layers of wind

and the wind gives you a name too

so the storm can carry your face

to a place you have never been

you are here to be part of the hive

you have antennas behind your eyes

unfold your wings and calculate the distance

you have infinite possibilities to understand existence

your feet are made from song

your bones are made from what they have done

you have time, you have this home

today you will become

older than the sun

Maria Dorothea Schrattenholz is a writer and artist inspired by science and science fiction in her artistic process, post-apocalyptic and utopian themes. Her debut book Atlaspunkt is science fiction in the form of poetry, where man is followed from origins through the present to a future on Mars, after evacuating an apocalyptic earth. In the book Protosjel, the poems take the reader on a journey to the future, it gives us technology and philosophy dressed in poetic layers, but the poems are at the same time about traditional central lyrical topics such as love, grief and loss. Schrattenholz is generally concerned with science fiction, nature and the climate change and has done several assignments based on this, e.g. for Litteraturhuset i Bergen "Natur og Landskap", poem for the Authors' Climate Action, poem for artist Kirsti van Hoegee about light pollution in the atmosphere, debate about climate and utopia "Utopia in change" / "Changing Utopia" for Oktoberdans at BIT in Bergen. Also has some insight into South African literature.

For Tårup Dark Sky Festival Maria is writing a new poetic text, functioning as a portal into the exhibition Universet. 

Maria has a BA from the Art Academy in Tromsø, and an MA in Creative Writing from University in Cape Town, she has also studied Creative Writing at the University of Tromsø and Skrivekunst-akademiet in Bergen. Schrattenholz has published two poetry collections Atlaspunkt (2015) and Protojsel (2021) both published by Oktober. She is also the co-editor of En strek gjennom tyngdekraften, an anthology of new, Norwegian science fiction.