And so I plead a little longer with the light

Failed attempt to capture the sunrise

And so I plead a little longer with the light

December sunrise 
like we laid 
our cheek to heaven’s 
mat, snuck a glimpse
under the door jam. 
Something moving. 
Equal parts shadow shift 
splendor and the whole 
room changing rapidly.

Or, one summer, high
among the Rockies
that cold, that ring
of stones, that flicker
of a flashlight set to strobe.
We swore, for a moment,
impossible heat. Please  —

like a plateau or 
idiom — defy 
time. Don’t depend upon 
the call of the neighboring 
rooster that has you on its leash. 

---

I’ve felt like a captain preparing his ship for a storm these last few weeks. The ways the light changes  (and how often) has me flipping light switches like they’re sails in a windstorm! We’ve been outfitting the house so that indoor lighting is at eye level or below 🙂.

This poem started with the title which brought the image of the (frequently awesome) Fall/Winter sunrise and a camping trip from a few years ago to mind. Then I set them next to each other to see what it meant. It’s also in conversation with mortality. It’s been a season of loss and change for many people that I know and love, so there’s a bit of that tucked into the poem as well.

I’m reading a few things right now (in the lowlight):

• Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson - Incredible demonstration of a near possible future, largely focused on climate narratives and the innovation within societies’ “software” (i.e. legal, financial, governance systems).

• An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz - What a radical retelling of American history. Should be required reading for Americans. 

• Dark Days: Fugitive Essays by Roger Reeves -  A compelling look at what unites people across different experiences and towards hope.

• Always some poems. Recently Book of (More) Delights by Ross Gay and a collected works by Gerald Stern.

Thanks for reading.