i kept waiting for it to get dark and it never did

[tsuki_no_bara]

my fellow americans! how was your eclipse experience? (were you lucky enough to see at least some of it?) i failed in my attempts to get eclipse glasses at the local library - they were free - the library opened at 10 and i was there at 10:10 and they were OUT - but there was a town viewing party (called total eclipse of the park, heh) at a park not far from me so i packed a lunch and a water bottle and drove over. there were A LOT of people but honestly when i wasn't standing in line it wasn't too bad. when i got there the line for eclipse glasses was INTERMINABLE but once it started moving it went pretty quickly. there was another line for free popcorn but i didn't want to wait in it. i made a pinhole camera out of a cereal box just in case they were out of glasses at the park too but i ended up not needing it. i did check out some of the eclipse in it anyway, because i had it. there were lots of well behaved dogs, lots of people with food. the event started at 2 and people showed up early and let's be honest, no one wants to be starving during an exciting astronomical event. the moon started biting into the sun around 2:20 and by the time we hit 93% totality around 3:30 it was significantly colder and while it wasn't significantly darker the light looked different. less bright. everything seemed a little flatter and a little sharper. it was immensely cool to watch the sun get smaller and smaller as the moon crossed in front of it. also, eclipse glasses are just really neat.

i sat on the grass (i didn't want to carry a lawn chair). the grass was damp. consequently my butt got a bit wet. i changed into dry pants when i got home. ahem.

today's poem is sadly not eclipse themed.

after “The First Time You Hold a Gun”

My mother’s heartbeat
the first time I heard a baseline.
Her womb, the first room I danced in.
How did it go again?
Kick cloud-soft twirl
stretch
dark gulf
neon on my clay brain.
Kick . . . Then
the melody drops
& her vocals come in.

[VERSE 1]

There will be strife,
burnt days, a God
besides me
sex & crueler colours
than the abyss
but there will be this.

--Caleb Femi, "Baseline"