Rainbow Lightening

I don’t know if I’ve ever done this. Typically, I write poems in ‘collections.’ The poems that I post on here are from various collections, but typically the ‘newest poems,’ I’ve written are like from 2-3 collections behind (so that’s years, if there’s a collection a year, which there’s always not). This poem is the newest poem I wrote. It’s not like it’s the best poem I’ve ever written, but it felt like it wanted to be immediate. It’s addressing an amazing thing a friend and I witnessed the other night, ‘rainbow lightening,’ which I did not even know was a thing! It’s also just a reflection on ‘time,’ and ‘the current state of things.’ The last few years have brought some crazy things. The last year and a half especially in terms of weather. Right now, where I live, it seems like we have one warm day and then we enter what seems like weeks of endless cold, rainy days. For those who follow astrology/astronomy. In Western astrology, we just had Jupiter conjoin Neptune in the sign they co-rule, which is Pisces. Pisces is a water sign. Neptune represents fog, disillusionment, not being able to see things clearly for what they are. Jupiter is a benefic planet; however, it’s most known for ‘making things bigger.’ They both are in Pisces. Neptune is definitely also about ‘spirituality/religion/etc.’ It also rules drugs, addiction. Since Neptune has been in Pisces, we’ve had the Opioid crisis, we’ve seen the rise of ‘spiritualism,’ also the rise of media, which blurs the line on what is not true/clear. Conspiracy theories hit have hit highs. Neptune stays in a sign for years and has been in Pisces for a while. It was joined by Jupiter last year for just a few months and since the very, very end of 2021 (like a week or two) through April. The day after their conjunction to the degree (to show how literal the planets can be), we saw the Ukraine sink Russia’s largest battleship with missiles named Neptunes. That’s the largest battleship (Jupiter) being sunk in water (Pisces) by missiles named (Neptune). The point was not to make the post about astrology, but it’s quite interesting. Another fascinating fact was the last time these two planets came together in Pisces, there was the signing of a document regarding the Crimea Peninsula. The last time they were together in Pisces, the house they co-rule, was in 1856. They will not be together in Pisces again until 2188. I have my sun in the 12th house in my natal chart. In 2021, I got a surprise 7 days in the hospital for ‘sepsis,’ during the exact same week that this year (the week they conjoined), I got bronchial/pneumonia. This was my first real outing (outside of work) for several weeks due to being sick. Where I live, the forecast was calling for a wonderful sunny day in the 70’s the following day. As we drove through the cold rain, it was almost hard to imagine that it was actually going to happen. It’s not abnormal to have a 70 degree day here and there in the north. It’s not abnormal to have a rainy spring. This year it just feels ‘like a lot.’ I think it actually might be more than normal, but the hope, the need for sun is articulated everywhere you go. Mostly, this poem is about hope. The world needs hope right now. We all could use a little bit more of it. It was also just earth day and seeing this amazingly, beautiful abnormal thing that you had no idea the earth could do, was incredible. So, in some ways, it’s a love poem to the earth. It’s easy to forget just how incredible Earth is in what it gives us. We forget sometimes, especially in challenging times, what a miracle this planet is and how fortunate we are to have been invited to live on it. With all that, I felt the poem is addressing a specific time and feeling and it should be put out there. If you are feeling hopeless or down, just take a minute and go outside, really notice all the miraculous things this planet does and allows us to do. It’s truly incredible, and it makes me very grateful that I got an invitation to experience this beautiful planet. So this is my sort of ‘thank you letter,’ to her and my own reminder that I need to take time to be thankful for this experience of life more often. Love and contentment to you all- L

Rainbow Lightening

“Raindrops can shuttle electrical charges to form lightening,
but to form a rainbow, raindrops must scatter sunlight
separating the colors into the colors that make up a rainbow.”

We’re just out of IL, coming into the rainy WI night.
It’s been a wet, Neptunian spring and sunlight is
almost this narcotic that we’ve been pleading for.

In a diner just outside of Chicago, our waiter longs
to be a thirst trap, who makes jokes about the size
of the pickle that comes with the club sandwich,

which he agrees, “Is the most edible thing on the menu,’
sharing repeated stories of scarfing down a club at 3 AM
with the Jim Bean that cured his COVID in 12 hours.’

An old man has just walked in, clutching firm his walker,
In a stern, steady voice the Greek host demands to know,
“Where you been???I haven’t seen you lately. Vegas???”

I do a little shimmy dance in my sweat pants
as we select a doggy bag desert at the sweet’s counter,
and an old woman in red pants makes it known I’ve awakened something in her.

I’ve been sleeping beauty for weeks, pneumonia my surprise plague this April.
Like a wasp landing to catch my breath, this outing is the flower, I need.
We laugh as she’s turned on by me after feeling like a burnt out lamp in a dark house for so long.

It feels like everyone needs something bright.
War and human rights being marched over like flowers holding space
at the graves of so many who didn’t make it through the pandemic winters.

The rain has been constant enough to weather the decaying carcass
of the skeleton of the spring lamb we’ve been waiting for.
The forecasted sunny day tomorrow feels like white butterflies escaping the lamb’s hollow eye sockets.

We’re driving home, two 12th house souls, talking about
how Neptunian the world has become, a water like world
that’s full of disillusionment. Dive into that blue, blue atmosphere and it’ll be your death.

In the deep woods of my needs, is laughter and light
to stroke me once more upstream to be reborn.
Make a soul too content to soar, with stomach heavy with love and fulfillment.

As you drive, it comes like something seen in the blink of an eye.
I’m almost quiet with doubt of what I’ve just seen.
I look at you and begin, “Was that like..” and before I can finish

We say in a jinx, ‘rainbow lightening?’ We both laugh,
joke about how it’s a knew weather phenomenon. We have
seen a lot of those this year from ‘squall warnings’ to ‘cyclonebombs,’

is it another one? Or was it just light playing games with us,
feeding into the Neptunian deception that seems to fog the year?
Before we can doubt, another, and another, rainbow lightening strike.

In each one, there is the joy of spring flowers, the scent of traffic and music,
the noise and scent you get when you can open your windows again
and the sounds of people everywhere, enjoying being outside, comes flooding in.

It was like how laundry must feel the first day it’s hung out to dry.
It was as colorful as the waitstaff that run the diner we’ve been going to all winter for laughs,
It’s the club sandwich that never fails you on a menu full of delusional offerings.

“Rainbow lightening,” we both smile, still having our doubts if it’s real,
yet loving the potential of something new and beautiful.
The next morning, I awake to the sound of your text.

“It’s real. Rainbow lightening. I looked it up.”
I look outside the sun is out. I open the windows and the sounds and scents of spring
come rushing in like that lightening shot down from the sky.

I have to look it up myself. “Raindrops can shuttle electrical charges to form lightening,
but to form a rainbow, raindrops must scatter sunlight
separating the colors into the colors that make up a rainbow.”

I read it again. “Earth is so magical,” I think,
so much more powerful than any of us can comprehend.
She blinks her eyes and ignites beauty and hope we can’t even fathom.

That night when so many heart felt like a soggy rotting stump ridden by days of cold rain,
she awakened us, electrified us in her ability to change languages so fast.
It was like the first time the world saw television in color.

In one second, in one breath, somewhere something was struck
accepting as a tree or anything amputated by lightening is,
although this time it was in color.

Being electrocuted by a rainbow.
Scary as hell like the world is right now,
And yet, still, shockingly beautiful.