July 4th

Gradual bud and bloom and seedball speeded up
are these mute explosions in slow motion.
From vertical shoots above the sea, the fire
flowers open, shedding their petals.
Black waves, turned more than moonwhite, pink
ice, lightning blue, echo our gasps of admiration
as they crash and hush. Another bush ablaze
snicks straight up. A gap like heartstop between
the last vanished particle and the thuggish boom.
And the thuggish boom repeats in stutters
from sandhill hollows in the shore. We want
more. A twirling sun, or dismembered chrysanthemum
bulleted up, leisurely bursts, in an instant
timestreak is suckswooped back to its core.
And we want more: we want red giant, white dwarf,
black hole, extinct, orgasmic, all in one!

- May Swenson (1919-1989)

~ Yes, I'm up already getting ready to meet my cousin, his wife and two girls Jada and Hannah who drove up from Southern California yesterday. We are going to see the Alcatraz this morning - my first time! Happy 4th!