Tricia Knoll Verse-Virtual 2016 October

October 2016

The light has turned. I can't kid myself. I'm going to spend the fall using the Stafford method of daily writing — spare journaling, then constructing an aphorism that sounds potentially wise, next launching into a poem. My poetry collections include Ocean's Laughter (Aldrich Press, 2016) and a chapbook Urban Wild (Finishing Line Press, 2014). Website: triciaknoll.com

The Flying Saucer
Mt. Adams, Washington

"Cover your head in order that the fear of heaven may be upon you."
-Talmud

Fear did not bring us out this night, just awe
at another altocumulus lenticularis, lens cloud,

cupped like a yarmulke, over the peak.
A convex lens aimed to the heavens

as sunset drenched the mountain
in rose alpenglow. Vapor testimony

to eddied winds, telling downdrafts,
swirls of motions, the mountain’s mass,

and yes, we could believe in the presence
of aliens, spirits or those who choose

to witness in the heights of mountains
to the felt unidentified, perhaps divine.

Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -FF