Day 8 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2024

Day 8 . . . solar eclipse day! It's 6:30 in the morning. Renee and I are in St. Louis, about 2 hours from the path of totality in southeast Missouri. After breakfast, we'll head down there. I'll write today's poem after the eclipse. Cue "Moonshadow" by Cat Stevens. Hoping for clear skies when the moonshadow sweeps across us at 1,500+ mph! Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo suggestion: “our (optional) prompt for the day takes its inspiration from Laura Foley’s poem “Year End.” Today, we challenge you to write a poem that centers around an encounter or relationship between two people (or things) that shouldn’t really have ever met – whether due to time, space, age, the differences in their nature, or for any other reason.” Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day suggestion: “For today's prompt, write a major event poem. The major event could be something historical. Or it could be something personal (like a wedding or graduation). Whatever the major event, make sure you get some major poeming down today.” Today's poem arises out of seeing the total eclipse today in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Renee and I drove 8 hours to see it. One way. Maybe more than 8 hours — the traffic was crazy! Seeing the total eclipse was an incredible experience. This is a curtal sonnet — rhymed abc abc dbcdc, in pentameter, with a half line at the end — melding both prompts. The Match in the Sky Seen through eclipse glasses, the moon briskly covered the sun, two strangers encountering each other and battling for primacy in the heavens. Were they supposed to meet like this, unlikely couple, unruly, rambunctious, scrummaging in the sky? When they fell together, even the peacocks stopped crowing. And the sun glowed behind the moon. He slipped his diamond ring onto her finger, and all was right again. Lovers now, not combatants, their light flowed                       once more like gentle rain. —Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.] Here's a photo I took of the totality with my phone. This pic doesn't really resemble that much what we could see in the sky: the ring of fire, the "diamond ring." But it's the best my phone could manage, I guess. A guy next to us who had fancy camera equipment -- filters, telephoto lenses, and tripod -- got a tremendous photo of the diamond ring. I'll probably write a poem about the eclipse tomorrow or the next day. This poem ended up this way because of the NaPoWriMo prompt for an encounter between two opposed persons or things. It doesn't really reflect my true feelings about witnessing the eclipse. Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks! Ingat, everyone.  ヅ

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