Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Planets and Dragon Eyes


Dilatory but alert, an ancient
Eye watches for some slight
Shift in momentum or mass.
Through branch bark ridge
And glass it watches a bridge
Of light, day and night, for
Orbital decay, for planets--
Any sort of drift that may
Send each its separate way.
 

 

16 comments:

  1. So, this ancient eye knows by now that our planet is disintegrating.

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    1. Dear Duta, the dragon I imagine the eye belongs to can herd rain clouds and coax sunshine. It can do more than watch --I hope.

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  2. That's a unique looking photo!

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    1. Thanks,Lon. I took it with a 35mm SLR and framed it in a knothole, so there must be some magic in it.

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    1. Thanks dear Julia! Even dragons need to be called pretty cool sometimes, or just pretty. They're a lot like cats --uh, flying cats.

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  4. Too slow for any one of us, only it is on watch.

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    1. Dear Joanne, I'm fairly certain the whole universe is sentient, otherwise how would it evolve mortal brains? --yes, too slowly for any one of us to observe, but we imagine: we frame the moon in a knothole.

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  5. Lovely poem, says so much. Moon's reflection is in just the right place.

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    1. Dear Susan, thank you. Moons around all planets rely on both gravity and centrifugal force to maintain their orbits. The right place indeed.

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  6. Love how the eye is aware. Beautiful poem and great use of alliteration

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  7. Beautiful :-) And just when I needed to see a dragon! xx

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    1. Dear Lisa, My pleasure and, in the online company of (you) the conceptor of Oak Dragon, a decided privilege. It is getting on to 3a.m. after Election Day --I sleep poorly during these quadrennial contests. Your comment helps me relax.

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  8. Geo:

    That frame (and photo in it) are amazing. Please talk about it more.... you say it was a knot.... did you find it, saw it from a log/tree? How much did you sand/fuss/stain it? Again, it is cool and impressive.

    PipeTobacco

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    1. Dear Prof.,gladly: The photo was taken with a Mamiya Sekor 1000 TL 35mm single lens reflex camera through a 500x refracting telescope on a tripod pointed Moonward. I removed the eyepiece-assembly from the telescope, after aiming it, which left only its objective lens and my camera. I believe I used Tri-x film -speediest I had available- and set the shutter at 1/200th of a second. This was 30 years ago and the details leave me but it took several tries, partially because my hands freeheld the camera behind the (tripoded) telescope's open back end.

      As for the frame: It's from a eucalyptus tree that I trimmed for many years. Whenever I had to take a limb, I cut it at the branch-bark ridge. When it got so big that it started splitting at its trunk, I climbed and cabled it. While I was up there, the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit. Next day, since its projected trajectories included our house and neighbor's house, I went out and felled the whole thing in our lane. The frame you mention is a branch-bark ridge from an old pruning that I saved while bucking the tree for the next year's firewood. I sanded it, routed the back and cut glass to fit it. It became a dragon's eye.

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