Solar Fire poems
An excerpt from a newly developing suite
INTRODUCTION: As I mentioned to readers in a previous post, I’ve been writing new poems inspired by the science of solar cycles I’ve been learning about the past two years or so. Here are three new poems from what is so far a 7-poem suite, possibly the basis of my next book.
Solar Genesis
—with thanks to Anne Champagne for the first line
What if the sun dreamed upthe Earth? Found Mother Watersleeping and kissed her to life?Serpents in the sky seededher womb—spiral fireworksof breath embodied, sparksfrom the sun wheel of thoughtbirthed out of and into a dreamthat rises and sets each dayfrom solar embers orange warm.Oceans leap, dive and geyser oxygen.Grassy steppes gallop, swerve,drink shade in noonday heat.Skies woven and tasseled with birdsong,arabesques of swallow.Soul a proton shower step-dancingin solar wind, casting its roseseverywhere. What if the sundreamed up the Earth? Too lonelyto orbit alone its neurons of fire,generous as pollen on a breeze.Sower of worlds on wing, hoofand foot, tender of seedlingsthat arch to touch the cradling lightthat rises primordial over the Garden.©2025 Sean Arthur Joyce
Far Side of the Sun
—with thanks to Mexican poet laureate Homero Aridjis and geophysicist Stefan Burns
The far side of the sunseen through our tiny,Tinkertoy eye—brow [1]knotted, red-facedwith fire—battlebetween rageand restraint. [2] Hold!Hold! Hold. Let them picksanity from the gravelon their own time.Let them hunger, thirstfor light. Let them ache for it.Go! Go! Go—let flyyour plasma streamers,your electromagneticdragons in the skyof Asylum Earth—slamthe killing blowof tectonic clashes, [3]serpentine crackle of lightturning technologyto charcoal. [4]Nine times now, Great Mind,Great Soul has circled [5]its grief, the perpetualburn of its lovefor this fated race—so brilliant, so beautiful,so blind, so damned.Shadow of an eagle [6]streaming stars too minisculefor the eye, splashdownin the human aura—eloquent beyond words.©2025 Sean Arthur Joyce
Solar Shockwave
—for Amy Mori, upon her 98th birthday and the power grid chaos of May 31, 2025 following the M-class solar flare that struck Earth
A deer arcs over the hoodof my car in the snapof an eye. Mama grouseand her eight chicks amblesingle-file across the highway.One little straggler stumblesat the end of the line—my breathstopped, quick prayer—thank Godno cars come. Feathers melt safelyinto a thatched bank. Light gridswink out in town after town.Wind smacks a backhandthrough the valley’s funnel—shower of twigs, garbage cansairborne, ache of bending treestrying not to snap. Dinner partydriven inside to sharea 98th birthday by lamplightand laughter. We lookto her one-hundredth, but sheshrugs: I take one day at a time.Rain drums its soft-glovedtattoo above our heads,first one side, then the other.We swap garden talk and dreamof leaves and tendrils thickaround our ankles, summer’srelaxed sigh in the sun.Touch the harp strings of windand feel the thrumin your veins. Lift your eyesfrom the dirt and groundbare feet in grass. Welcome backthe living light.©2025 Sean Arthur Joyce
[1] “Tinkertoy eye” is a poeticism for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, which on May 9, 2025 was transmitting images from the far side of the sun.
[2] The image transmitted by SOHO, with its dark patches representing coronal holes, had the distinct appearance of a frowning face.
[3] Scientists are finding increasing evidence of a connection between high-speed plasma storms from coronal holes and increased earthquake activity on Earth.
[4] A veiled reference to the Carrington Event, the largest solar flare observed since scientists began recording solar observations around 1750. The flare knocked out telegraph systems around the world. Risk analysts say a similar flare today would be disastrous for today’s technology.
[5] A reference to the belief of Plato and other ancients that the stars are conscious.
[6] One of the coronal holes on the sun during Solar Cycle 25’s maximum period in April 2025 had the approximate shape of an eagle. Symbolically the eagle represents far-sightedness and vision, both literal and spiritual.
Brilliant, as the stars and The Son. Thank you for writing and learning and sharing.
I really like these Solar Fire Poems and am looking forward to more. Something we should all be aware of: The power of the sun. The ancients had it right.