I’m still thinking about the perseids, but, even if I hadn’t dropped my camera and broken most of its functionalities, I don’t think it was ever good enough – and I am not skilled enough – to take worthwhile pictures of the night sky. Instead of the Milky Way and meteor scatter, then, the best I can do for a field of stars is these wildflowers that I saw last month in south west England:
Tag: summer
shooting stars II
Yesterday‘s narrator had all she wished for, which might be why the poem was so short. Today’s narrator doesn’t, though she seems to have realised that wishing on a star won’t help:
Perseids
The night I met you fire flared in the skies
and seams of gold were visible across
the coalmine dark. Nature had purged the dross
of normal life, it seemed. We raised our eyes
to watch with joy as stars fell round about:
each one a dream of summer love, a wish,
each an unspoken promise, each a kiss
that fanned desire and silenced truth and doubt.
And so we boldly told each other lies,
pretending to believe they could come true;
we watched those stars like lovers, though we knew
that we could not escape existing ties.
At heart, we knew the stars are fixed, not free,
set in their courses, much like you and me.
star’ku
Watching shooting stars,
your arm around my shouldersNo need for wishes
For those who are looking for more perseids, I posted a few other pieces on the subject of shooting stars this time last year.
Night visitors
Now that summer is here, we tend to keep the house closed up all day, to keep the sun out. After dark, though, I like to open the windows wide to let the cool air circulate. That means I am a lot more aware of the noises of the different animals during the night.
When we used to feed the cats on the verandah, the food trays would occasionally be left out overnight. They were always empty in the morning.
I came across this old draft in my notebook the other day. I should probably add it to my pile of ‘drafts to be dealt with’ as I’m interested in how the repetition works although I’m not particularly happy with the line breaks. I wonder if they succeed in helping the reader to the sort of short, heavily-paused phrasing that I had in mind.
Continue reading “Night visitors”
midsummer madness
The last two posts have mentioned the noche de San Juan, when celebratory bonfires are lit, but I had rather thought that that would be enough of the subject for this year. After all, the hogueras are lit on the evening of June 23rd, and today they should all be over.
Sadly, though, someone seems to have got the dates mixed and started un incendio in the middle of the day today.
The whole afternoon has been accompanied by the screaming sirens of the police and fire brigade, and the thrumming of the helicopters called out to deal with it.
Continue reading “midsummer madness”
don't confuse the narrator 