NaPoWriMo2017 - Day 30

Fireworks in the Fog #

The fog has rolled in
the horizon in the hills
disappearing prematurely
the cold is worth braving
because it’s Independence Day
and we are going to
explode rockets in the air
and this is America

I wish I had binoculars with me
I wish I had binoculars
out in the distance a town
which may or may not be Napa
is setting off fireworks
and there are little colorful dots
That I could easily fit in my pocket

We look across the bay
they are lighting fireworks in city
but it doesn’t matter
the fog is too high
it eats the light
We see the bottom half
of the booms
with this the cold
becomes disheartening

But look!
They are launching rockets off the Berkeley peer
I like the noise
I like the way that some of the rockets are launched
high into the fog to create colored lightning
but most of all
I like the smoke trails from the sparks
Invisible until the next explosion grants light
like an atom or starfish
converging on a central point

Fireworks are good for poetry
Bright and beautiful and fading
Spark from blue to white to red
Like a human lifetime or a snowflake
My favorite overwrought metaphor
is the Buddhist sand paintings
which are themselves metaphors
take your pick

But I can’t think of metaphors
or poetry or any of that
right now
When it’s Independence Day in San Francisco
the weather is holding
and I’m watching the sky light up
it’s nice to just watch and be happy