The Path Of Totality

On the morning of the eclipse, men speak loudly on cell phones 
in coffee shops, as usual. Business meetings so important, and 
the rest of us should know. Will they put themselves in the path 
of totality? Or vulnerability? Or anyone else’s shoes?

The search engine cartoon features doodads wearing special 
glasses, and I feel included in the zeitgeist of mega corporate 
design. Finally.

The hollering happens naturally. Witnessing eclipses elicits 
shrieks, apparently. We don’t often yell in the name of 
amazement, but our awe is so honest we cannot contain it.

Cosmic alignment animates us.

The sun and moon co-host a party and collectively we are wired. 
It cackles with the electricity of celestial symmetry, it imprints
upon our memories the mathematics of a moment.

What are words anyway? Photos are why? 
The eclipse eclipses all facsimiles 
of visions, on pathways, in time.

—Tanya Davis

Tanya Davis is a singer-songwriter and the poet laureate of Epekwitk/Prince Edward Island. She is the author of How to Be Alone and At First, Lonely.

Each month Bren Simmers selects a poem by an Island poet for The Buzz.