solstice poultice

night in day*

the night never wants to end, to give itself over
to light. so it traps itself in things: obsidian, crows.
even on summer solstice, the day of light's great
triumph, where fields of sunflowers guzzle in the sun-
we break open the watermelon and spit out
black seeds, bits of night glistening on the grass
~ joseph stroud

i wrote to someone yesterday about the longest day coming..
it is the shortest day..yes?
it seems every day lasts a lifetime these days in night

o my o
the light yesterday
what tunnel did it escape from?
from dust to dust..
we are space particles..
we are cosmic dust bunnies..
we are night eating day..
day eating night..
eating crow!


visible light is electromagnetic radiation
whose wavelength falls within the range
to which the human retina responds,
i.e., between about 390 nm (violet light) and 740 nm (red).
white light consists of a roughly equal mixture
of all visible wavelengths,
which can be separated to yield the colors of the spectrum,
as was first demonstrated conclusively by newton.
in the 20th century it has become apparent
that light consists of energy quanta
called photons that behave partly
like waves and partly like particles.
the velocity of light in a vacuum is 299,792 km per second.


*a bird black as the sun
california poets on crows & ravens