Aurora, or When Firefoxes Spark the Sky
I walk outside and above us an open mouth
to the universe – light streaming towards us,
an invitation. Pinks, greens, and blues so intense
our eyes literally cannot detect all the colors.
No wonder people believed it was flame –
Finnish mythology tells of firefoxes
in the skin so fast their tales leave sparks.
Aliens, gods, the Valkyries’ shields –
really, anything is possible, you think
the lights swirling above you become a horse, a whale,
that eerie green on the horizon a beacon.
Beam me up, Scotty? If the gods were to visit
today I would not be more surprised. Along our street,
along the trees, people point and snap photos, in awe,
mouths curved upwards. No one is angry
at the sky, at this gift of solar storm and magnetic field,
that feels so magical, we all stop, we all leave our homes,
we all wonder under the thin sliver of new moon
what we did to deserve this magic, this kind of
heavenly communication, an annunciation of angels,
visiting spirits, a fox whose tail magnified the light.
Pyrokinetic
All of my children
were born pyrokinetic –
pulling flame out of the air.
They were never afraid of fire,
despite the constant danger –
accidents happen, pages, furniture burns.
I wanted them to live up
to their potential, so I sent them to live
on black basalt beaches, with animals -
iguana, lava cricket – that have adapted
to survive intense heat.
Like them, these children
were developed under stress. Global warming,
hot flashes, wildfires. They make glass figurines
out of sand – seals, jellyfish, flying horses.
Out of my body, children who
will be fearless in cloaks of flame,
figures dancing in the plumes
while others look on, whispering “miracle.”
Jeannine Hall Gailey is a poet with MS who served as Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington. She's the author of six books of poetry, including Field Guide to the End of the World, winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and the SFPA's Elgin Award, and her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions. Her work appeared in journals like The American Poetry Review, JAMA, Ploughshares, and Poetry. Her website is www.webbish6.com. You can find her on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram at @webbish6.
Photo credit: Visit Greenland