Patricia Clark

Zodiacal Light: A Dialogue

To see it, you look to the north

but you must not be in the north.

How can I see it then?

You must take a long drive south.

How early must I rise?

Before early light, when stars yet gleam.

Which part of the sky to study?

Learn the horizon, your planet’s curve.

The description spoke of a pyramid shape—

can I expect that?

You will see dust shimmer, rise, drift.

Golden particles, astral pollen.

Could I begin driving tonight?

You will find impediments—weather, blockades.

What can I do to circumvent those?

You way will be longer, a season’s detour.

Must I give up a whole year in the wait?

Sometimes a year is the least particle.

Eyewitnesses agree: a soft glow, unearthly.

Can the last word be right? did you listen well?

I believe in the holy name, the journey long

and good. These are not the northern lights—

they are something else, entirely.

And for this I have waited, these many years?

Author: Patricia Clark

Patricia Clark is the author of six volumes of poetry, including Sunday Rising, The Canopy and most recently Self Portrait with a Million Dollars. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Gettysburg Review, Poetry, Plume, and Slate, among others. She received the 2018 Book of the Year Award from Poetry Society of Virginia for The Canopy. Her new book, her seventh, O Lucky Day is forthcoming in January 2025 from Madville Publishing.

 

Plume: Issue #6 December 2011