Poem for a Solar Flare

A Hometown Poem

The night sky is a sibirian iris, eggplant purple, 
almost ebony, rays like tiny bright stamen popping 
in bursts of lemon, tall stems in tea-green streaks, 
beaming, reaching up, leaves slightly darker, 
a touch of moss hue, wet with dew, phosphorescent.
The night sky is a hollyhock, blue-purple blooms 
posing brilliantly on stately chartreuse stalks, 
blasting from sunspot clusters, pulsing, glowing.
The night sky is false indigo, a carpet of spikes,
dense, dark wine-purple pea-like flowers surrounded 
by golden yellow petals, dazzling waves of light 
erupting in blue-green foliage. The aurora fills the sky,
spreading slowly, softly, like velvet, a creeping garden 
blanketing the sleeping earth, suspending time.
The light sits heavily in my bones. I know someday
the soft flowers of the heavens will open like hands 
and sweep me into the black bouquet of the night.

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I’m proud to be part of The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative:

Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center

Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities

Dartanyan L. Brown: My Integrated Live, Des Moines

Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers Collaborative: Roundup

Steph C: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Randy Evans: Stray Thoughts, Des Moines via Bloomfield

Daniel P. Finney: Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines

Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Avery Gregurich: The Five and Dime, Marengo

Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray's Area: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Iowa Capital Dispatch, an alliance with IWC

Iowa Podcasters Collaborative,

Iowa Podcasters' Collaborative

Black Iowa News: Dana James, Iowa

Chris Jones: Chris’s Substack, Iowa City

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters From Iowans

Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County

Hola Iowa: Iowa

Alison McGaughey: The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurtis Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Vicki Minor: Relatively Minor, Winterset

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Steve Semken: Ice Cube Press, LLC, North Liberty

Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander's Emerging Voices: Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Jason Walsmith: The Racontourist, Earlham

Kali White VanBaale: 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines