Leaves patchwork a trail to the stream.
stars in an ancient galaxy.
Thanks, Bjorn. Funny how sometimes those happenings collide at just the right moment.
We worry about things that really have no incidence on the way the earth turns. Beautiful imagery!
Thanks so much, Jane. When there is a phenomenon of nature, especially when it is a peaceful event, rather than cataclysm, it brings a lot into focus. I think Americans needed this at this time in our history.
What a beautiful poem about what is important in life and being distracted from what is and what isn’t!
Thanks, Robin. Yes, distraction seems to be an American way of life.
Wonderful write about your eclipse day. Love the “jeweled reflections” piece of imagery!
I like your conversational approach here and I like the part about how wild things don’t have to worry with indecision…so, why do we? Lovely, Sarah.
Thanks, Gayle. We do complicate things, don’t we!
Thanks, Debi. I loved your poem as well.
The indecision of the human mind versus the unfailing predictability of the laws of physics… certainly puts things in perspective.
Thanks, Rajani. Things are simpler in physics, I think.
Yes, we seem to have a penchant for complicating things with human fallibility and angst. Physics is complicated but far more predictable.
I love that ‘should he’ or ‘shouldn’t he’ mother son conversation. Lovely & interesting. Also the image of trout spawning, eclipse & the ancient sky. Were you able to see the diamond ring?
No, we had only a partial eclipse here. I think America needed something like this though. The excitement was contagious. Something pure and predictable in an era of well,… the opposite!
Thanks, Sanaa. Yup. We humans are good at distractions!
I love how you set the scene in the first two stanzas, with the trout’s ‘jeweled reflections following instinct’ (they know where they are going) and the conversation with your indecisive son – a lovely juxtaposition, which threads its way into the rest of the poem and the eclipse..
Thanks, Kim. This one came together well. Some days… not so much!
Thanks for the glimpse of the extraordinary in the ordinary day … which turned out, after all, wasn’t quite ordinary either. Interesting contrast of scenes. I wish I could call and talk to my Mum with that level of openness … Your son is blessed.
Aw, thanks Colin. My mother wasn’t one you could talk over things with, so I’ve vowed not to be that mother. I may have succeeded, at least most of the time.
Hope so, but she wasn’t much for praise, at least where I was concerned. Lots of poetry written and to be written there. Thanks so much for the compliment, Colin.
in the trees. ” It makes me wonder how to video-sound record not the eclipse itself but what is happening around me before, during and after it.
I’ve heard that animals behave strangely during an eclipse. That would be an interesting study. I wonder if anyone has done one. Thanks for the props about reverberations. That phrase had been dancing in my head for about a week before the eclipse, so I had to use it.
Stunning What a great imagery of the experience.
Thanks so much, Marja. It was a unique day.
How beautifully you’ve brought the seemingly unrelated scenarios to blend with caution of conversations and seeing a natural phenomenon unfolding! Great lines Sarah!
Wonderful, Sarah. Wow! What an explosive combination of thoughts. Such grace.
Crickets start reverberations in the trees….. here in Mumbai it is raining and insects resonated from the trees. My son called today…… this binds all mother together. your poem has a very earth element, Sarah.
Thanks so much, Kalpana. You saw something in the poem that I didn’t. I love it when that happens!
A beautiful evocation of the wild – such a contrast to petty concerns.
A nice play on shadows and shade as opposed to glint of sun..and a son needing to talk, hoping you would shed some light on what was troubling him.
I think you saw more than I did in the “shedding light” on my son’s dilemma. I love it when that happens! Thank you so much, Kathy.