32160802 (power)

All the power that comes from oil, wind, waves, came first from the sun. Let's cut out the middlemen.

You cannot have picked a better

Day than today to demonstrate

Solar power. A simple walk on

The circular path around Fairview

Park would clarify to anyone

The difference between shade

And sunlight. Of course today’s

A rare day, sky entirely blue, a

Slight breeze across the park’s

Playing field. A few trees (don’t

Ask me which; I promised to

Learn tree types long ago for

Jean and me in our retirement,

Now it would be just another 

Unshared knowledge, worse,

A reminder of my loss) are solid

With leaves, the outer shading

The inner so darkly how do they

Produce sugars? And once you’re

In that complete shade it’s as if

You’ve come to another world,

A tolerable one, where you can 

Imagine yourself in a forest green

Adirondack chair at Chautauqua

In conversation with like-minded

Others similarly ensconced of 

Plato or Planck while the breeze

Off the lake carries the chatter of

Joyful children splashing in the 

Cool water (hopefully they are 

Not playing “Marco Polo,” the

Dread incantation Billy Collins

Warned us of years ago). Then

With another step you are in the

Belly of the blazing beast, a total 

Transformation, your breath almost

Sears your lungs, the mouth dries

Out instantly, your skin cells cry

For relief. You think, I will play

In the water fountains and thrill

To get soaking wet, disrobe in

Front of the little bastards, not 

Giving a damn of decency or

Propriety, primevally driven

To get the cold water to flow

Over my sweaty parts and

Ease the heat between my

Cheeks. They will understand, 

Those in the sun. Judgment

Will come from the shaded who

Have already forgotten the pain

Of light. Solar radiation that

Powerful, able to deprive a man

Of his dignity before others, can

Certainly give life to our tools,

Our fans, if there are no breezes.

Scientists tell us enough sunlight

Falls on the earth daily to provide

All our energy requirements. I

Wonder if we ever got so good

At it, the earth would not be a

Blue marble circling the sun but

An opaque aggie, a tidy Black

Hole swallowing every photon

Under which planet-sized umbrella

We would wander, pasty-skinned

Looking for each other with 

Free flashlights.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016