Published in Laurentian Magazine in 2019.
Solar Envy
These glasses want to be worn;
Like a bike wants to be ridden,
Like an airplane wants to be flown.
Flimsy cardboard lying flat,
A crinkle in the lens,
No longer able to protect.
Uncared for in a forgotten drawer,
I would’ve framed them,
Grasping the memory.
The lenses steal my vision,
Black as the moonless night I stared into,
Yearning to ride the moon
On a trip to the other side of the world.
Luminous rays obstructed by two blocks,
Two fierce moons who delayed
The sun’s moment.
Explanation
One time I shared this poem with my sister and she said, “Huh?”
Basically, this is the first poem I ever wrote in college. My poetry teacher, Sarah gave us an object prompt. Every student picked an object to write about. Mine was about eclipse glasses.
Personifying the eclipse glasses in the beginning of the poem was an idea of mine sparked by Sarah; she told us in class, “I love writing poems through the lens of an object. I imagine what the object is thinking.”
The entire poem personifies the eclipse glasses, but it’s essentially about how I wish I was across the world watching the solar eclipse.
Katie Palmer 