Dear Creative Beings! Happy Solstice! Blessings of light to you! I wanted to share a couple poems with you today in honor of the great turning sun, our star, and our tiny eyeblink of existence before it. These poems are from deep in the archives, from 2009, but I ran across them the other day and thought they would be perfect to share here with you all! So much love to you!
The Longest Day
The night watchman sounds
his shrill whistle like a screech owl,
motorcycle buzzing through the midnight
streets, chaos of dogs barking following
him every night. But this night comes late,
after the earth turned a little longer
in the face of sun, and humans danced
pagan dances with flower garlands, or probably
just barbequed steaks out in the yard.
And now I listen to the melancholic
calling of the owl watchman, out looking
for thiefs and crooked drunks, and I wish
the sun could have lasted a little longer
on the longest day.
Endless Forever Things
I see a sky cleft by day's
last light, night's storm
clouds rent open by a gash
of color. I see dark banks
give way to periwinkle, apricot,
maize, and cayenne, like a sea
parting, then waves of black
crashing in, consuming the final
lashing of light. I am walking
down the street, lamps burnt
out overhead, crackling
with a fried connection. I am
walking with market bag in hand,
chicken stock in tupperware,
stopping at the store for cookies.
I am looking at the sky, the big
dark sky, wondering how my breath
can possibly ripple out and impact
the roiling infinity above me.
I wonder how I can presume to give names
of latex house paints to light,
to God cracking open Mystery, to
endless forever things, to heavy
raindrops pelting me every step home.
All words and images Copyright 2025 Emily K. Grieves
“Abierto,” Acrylic on canvas, copyright 2011, Emily K. Grieves
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