From the Mysteristas Blog:
Something a little different. Today I’m offering a poem I wrote way back in 1996 about watching fireworks on a 4th of July night after leaving a long-term relationship. I hope you enjoy it.
Another 4th of July
I am sitting again
in the dark of your yard,
waiting for the fireworks
on this hot 4th of July night.
I can hear the crowds down on Ruxton
answering the firemen as they shout from their trucks,
“Are you ready?”
holding out boots and helmets for donations.
I move to a better view and brush the planter.
The smell of a bruised tomato leaf follows me.
I never thought last year
I would watch these fireworks alone,
but only the dark and the smells and the stars
press against me tonight.
The first boom,
a spray of white light,
the waterfall.
A gasp
and then a cheer
rise from down the hill in answer.
And then we’re off.
Booms that shake the windows,
vibrate my chest like the bass from certain passing cars.
Bursts of yellow, red, violet
Screaming rockets leave tails of light
Corkscrews
Long arcs fall
then bust into showers
Mandalas
of light.
And I begin to forget that I am alone
As I watch those colors explode against the dark sky,
The secret chambers of the heart
climb the heavens and explode.
Distance is closed.
We breath together,
the crowd lining the streets three blocks down
and me.
We ooh as one,
clap our hands and gasp as
another explosion shakes the night awake.
We have become united.
Our desires run down the dome of the sky.
We lie beneath the Sky God, awed
as his seeds of light explode and swim
in search of connection,
the fertilization that moves the wheel of life.
Manitou Springs
August, 1996