FIRE DANCE

      Total eclipse of the sun at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau,
      the City of Refuge, Hawaii, 1991.

I was snorkeling with the manini,

the striped reef fish, who gathered
around me like a gown of yellow leaves

as the sun disappeared behind the moon.

The birds no sooner sang the sun up, 

when they prepared for sleep again.

The wild wind stilled, the stars shone.
The sun was a black Van Gogh sunflower. 

Bailey's beads rippled, a spritzer of light,
then, a diamond ring nearly blinded us.
Ghost visions danced as a Hawaiian couple
dressed in tapa cloth and feather cloaks,
exchanged vows at the Hale O Keawe heiau.

Though we broke kapu, we avoided certain death,
we were not ha ole, without breath, without honi.

Their kahuna sang the sun back into the sky.

The ali'i answered. Solar winds rose. The sea

was garlanded in leis of pikake & maile leaves.

The manini drifted off, fire danced on the water.

The collective aha! as we breathed in the mana 

and sang alo ha! to the returning sun.

11/1/2103
rev 11/5/2013

FIREDANCE

UMBRA, CITY OF REFUGE, HAWAII, 7/11/91

On Achieving Totality

Annular Eclipse

Partial Eclipse, 7/21/2009

November 1 I keep looking up from my desk and seeing ghosts....
Write an appearing poem. This could be a poem about something (or someone) appearing out of nowhere. Or it could be about appearances–appearing one way to some people; appearing another way to others.

FIRST DRAFT:I saw the total eclipse of the sun in the City of Refuge, Hawaii, 1991. Truly eerie. I was snorkeling and the manini, the yellow reef fish, gathered around me like fall leaves as the sun disappeared. They, and the birds no sooner got up that morning when they had to go to bed again. The wild wind stilled, The stars shone. The sun was a black sunflower. Then Bailey's beads, a diamond ring. A Hawaiian couple got married on the beach— wearing tapa cloths and ancestral cloak feathers. The Hawaiians sang the sun back into the sky.