like birds are panting from their morning calisthenics, like fish are having all kinds of fun, like the air is standing too close to the mirror, Narcissus breathing through his beautiful mouth, like ever since God breathed into our nostrils he’s been biding his time and cleaning his glasses, so one day he can finally scrutinize us all— the bored children in the back of the car, readying windows for tic-tac-toe.
I love everything about this, Lisa. Fog is one of my favourite phenomena and we're lucky to get a lot of really great foggy mornings where we live now.
I couldn't help it -- I had to write another poem about the Oct. 10 northern lights. They were unlike anything I'd ever seen -- soft and ethereal at the beginning, but ultimately thumping and insistent and seemingly quite sentient. My dark anthropomorphizing of the aurora should be chased with Larry's lovely tribute to the magic that night, and the love and inclusivity it signaled for him.
Rebekah! You are wonderful! I expect that couched in the beauty of nature is an implicit and sometimes explicit message: “don’t take all this for granted. It is not a pageant for us humans; we are a part of the show!”
I love this so much!! Partly because I'm another great-great-great granddaughter of Aurora, of course, but also just because it's a kick ass poem. If you get fist bumped by the Northern Lights, it's probably Aurora concurring.
I truly love this, Rebekah! And the thought of Aurora messaging from another team is such powerful ways. I am still grappling with 5 children before age 21 and four wives, what fierceness she must have had somewhere. Here’s a toast to Aurora!
Mads Christian was polygamist-light, in that he only had two wives at a time, replacing them when they passed (my recollection of the family story, anyway). Poor Aurora didn’t last long. A toast to her indeed!
I never thought I'd get on here and learn family history! I didn't know the "polygamist-light" bit and had forgotten that Aurora had so many kids so young and then died so young, too.
We were blessed with a beautiful display of the Northern Iights last night. The night sky inspired this poem along with the celebration of National Coming Out Day, a time that always reminds me of the blessings in my life from beloveds across the identity, gender and expression spectrum.
So beautiful, Larry! "God and science love rainbows" -- YES! I love the idea of our beautiful light show being God/nature's way of welcoming every last soul and bit of color.
I have to chuckle because once again you and I wrote on the same theme, only mine is the twisted version, lol. I'm so happy to be sharing the canvas with you!
Thank you Rebekah! Being on the same wave length as you from time to time is a gift! I can only imagine how seeing the northern lights for the first time before we had science to explain must have been a mystical experience arousing awe, wonder and fear!
I'm so glad you enjoyed this, Mark! I can't guarantee that you'll like every poem I share . . . sometimes I look back a day or two later and have to fight a strong face-palming urge. But please don't be afraid to read a bad poem! When I read one that falls flat for me, I think of it as permission to write a few duds of my own. (We are all bound to do it - if we write, that is.)
This is so beautiful, Lisa. And I love the way it came to be--you are a true poet in every part of your mind, body, heart and spirit. I like the analogy to kids in the back seat and tic-tac-toe--gosh, I had not thought of that in years! Enjoy your river time and time with beloveds in a beautiful place!
What a great moment of existential remove this concludes with.
Thanks! It was fun landing on that ending. I really had no idea where the poem was going to go.
I love everything about this, Lisa. Fog is one of my favourite phenomena and we're lucky to get a lot of really great foggy mornings where we live now.
I'm a big fan of fog, too! Thank you, A!
God cleaning his glasses. ☺️
Poor fella. We all have something to deal with.
Love this!
Thank you, Cynthia!
I couldn't help it -- I had to write another poem about the Oct. 10 northern lights. They were unlike anything I'd ever seen -- soft and ethereal at the beginning, but ultimately thumping and insistent and seemingly quite sentient. My dark anthropomorphizing of the aurora should be chased with Larry's lovely tribute to the magic that night, and the love and inclusivity it signaled for him.
.
The first part was rose petal bath
with candle flicker: a salve
for these troubled times.
.
The second part was wake the fuck up –
Reveille, a line of coke, techno club,
pulsing strobes, let’s all have some
EDM with our EMP
because this could be
.
The End.
Rebekah! You are wonderful! I expect that couched in the beauty of nature is an implicit and sometimes explicit message: “don’t take all this for granted. It is not a pageant for us humans; we are a part of the show!”
She IS wonderful! You are clearly an excellent judge of character, Larry.
Hah! With you two bright lights, it is quite easy to perceive!
This was a fun prompt, and perfectly timed, because we had some spectacularly chaotic northern lights last night.
.
If it weren’t for science
and/or Facebook,
I would have thought Somebody
was very angry.
Why else the frenetic flashes,
like watching windows
get punched out
from the quiet side?
Why else the agitated pacing
around the sky, quick pivots
as They swoop back for
another round?
.
I know enough to call it Aurora,
and to not be scared.
On the other hand,
Aurora was also the name
of my great-great-great
grandmother, one of
Mads Christian’s four wives,
who bore him five
before clocking out at 21.
.
I can’t say for certain,
but She might be
raising hell up there.
I love this so much!! Partly because I'm another great-great-great granddaughter of Aurora, of course, but also just because it's a kick ass poem. If you get fist bumped by the Northern Lights, it's probably Aurora concurring.
I truly love this, Rebekah! And the thought of Aurora messaging from another team is such powerful ways. I am still grappling with 5 children before age 21 and four wives, what fierceness she must have had somewhere. Here’s a toast to Aurora!
Mads Christian was polygamist-light, in that he only had two wives at a time, replacing them when they passed (my recollection of the family story, anyway). Poor Aurora didn’t last long. A toast to her indeed!
I never thought I'd get on here and learn family history! I didn't know the "polygamist-light" bit and had forgotten that Aurora had so many kids so young and then died so young, too.
The stories our ancestors could tell!
This kind of personification is so powerful and you use it so tenderly and with humor. Thank you for this piece and prompt!
Thank you so much, Joey!
We were blessed with a beautiful display of the Northern Iights last night. The night sky inspired this poem along with the celebration of National Coming Out Day, a time that always reminds me of the blessings in my life from beloveds across the identity, gender and expression spectrum.
Northern Lights
^
Sky explodes in bright light,
a canvas of sparkling hope
painted with invisible hands,
spirit filled, sacred dance of the stars,
a symphony of the universe
and the universal.
God and science love rainbows,
and the magical way that
the array of colors are formed
by combinations of beings and elements
and nature’s transcendent harmony.
^
Tonight’s sky, a masterpiece of creation,
a renewal of the call to expansive systems,
beloved communities where all are celebrated,
justice is valued, and equity is the norm.
We are all breathing under this one great sky.
^
Go to sleep you beautiful shining lights;
Morning will rise into a brand new day
where the silence turns to singing
in a world your dreams birthed into being.
Though the light show may shift and fade,
this love, seen and unseen, remains.
"God and science love rainbows!" And I do, too! Thank you for this rainbow of a poem and for the colorful and kind ways in which you show up here.
Thank you Lisa, for your kind comment and for your ever kind presence here! You make it easy to be here!
So beautiful, Larry! "God and science love rainbows" -- YES! I love the idea of our beautiful light show being God/nature's way of welcoming every last soul and bit of color.
I have to chuckle because once again you and I wrote on the same theme, only mine is the twisted version, lol. I'm so happy to be sharing the canvas with you!
Thank you Rebekah! Being on the same wave length as you from time to time is a gift! I can only imagine how seeing the northern lights for the first time before we had science to explain must have been a mystical experience arousing awe, wonder and fear!
Wow - Fear not!
(afraid to read this second gift, the first was so wonderful...) ;)
I'm so glad you enjoyed this, Mark! I can't guarantee that you'll like every poem I share . . . sometimes I look back a day or two later and have to fight a strong face-palming urge. But please don't be afraid to read a bad poem! When I read one that falls flat for me, I think of it as permission to write a few duds of my own. (We are all bound to do it - if we write, that is.)
This is so beautiful, Lisa. And I love the way it came to be--you are a true poet in every part of your mind, body, heart and spirit. I like the analogy to kids in the back seat and tic-tac-toe--gosh, I had not thought of that in years! Enjoy your river time and time with beloveds in a beautiful place!
Thank you so much, friend!