Footnotes to a History of the Moon (baritone)

1. The practice of mapping and naming lunar mountain ranges.

2. Using a five-inch reflector, she produced a daguerreotype of the moon, thus introducing photography to the celestial world.

3. “It was then I realized that documentation was an unforgiving task. The mercury contained in the image left tiny fissures on my delicate hands.”

4. Poison.

1. A substance causing injury or death.
2. In chemistry, the task of inhibiting a reaction between elements.

5. A little-known French film, in which the heroine names her children after features of the moon’s topography. Viewers were said to have expressed dismay at the prevalence of suicide in the work’s numerous subplots.

6. Here she alludes to a recurring dream, in which she sees her image reflected in one of the smaller lunar basins.

7. Aitken. Meaning the south pole. Noted for its untroubled surface and frigid nights.
8. An unpublished portion of their correspondence. Here she states that she did not expect the chemicals to injure, much less debilitate and poison her.

9. The experiment tests the moon’s elaborate magnetic field. Its insatiable consumption of nitrogen and ice.

—Kristina Marie Darling