Solar Eclipse

by Doris Watts

         September 1923 News Photo,
          San Diego Evening Tribune

The thin young man sits with his telescope
there on the roof of Lyons Clothing Store.
Will being closer by three extra floors
produce a better view? Or does he hope
just for escape at noon to out-of-doors —
in his serge suit, stiff collar, superb cravat,
and his stylish flat-crowned straw skimmer hat —
before returning to his proper chores
(dry goods below) — hope for a changing light,
the day grown cooler, still, and dim, the birds
remarking on the unexpected night,
the thrill of what is strange, the sly, soft words
inside his head that urge one look, just one,
(he knows what is forbidden) into sun.


Doris Watts lives in Temecula, California. Her poems have appeared in Mezzo Cammin, The Formalist (twice a finalist in the Nemerov Sonnet Competition), Blue Unicorn, The Lyric, and The Mid-American Poetry Review.
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Pat Jones
Published October 3 2010