Monday 16 April 2018


four hundred times

by Isabel del Rio


the symmetry of a total solar eclipse
happens
because, by perfect chance,
the Sun is four hundred times larger than
the Moon,
but also four hundred times
remoter
from the Earth, and this
simple coincidence
makes these two bodies, Sun and
Moon, stellar bodies so meaningful to us (for our lives
rotate around them, in more ways than one)
appear as
having exactly the same size
on the sky,
one covering the other
flawlessly during such an eclipse, and so
my advice is that if
you are going to create a
coincidence, make
it as mind-blowing as this one


* * * * *

"four hundred times" is from Isabel del Rio's poetry collection The Moon at the End of my Street (published by Friends of Alice Publishing, 2016)

Isabel del Rio is a bilingual poet and writer living in London.  She has published fiction and poetry in both English and Spanish, and has worked extensively as a linguist and journalist.  Her writing has also appeared in anthologies and online magazines.  Her most recent published work of fiction is Zero Negative, a collection of short stories on the subject of bloodshed, and her latest poetry book is The moon at the end of my street.  Her forthcoming works are two collections of short stories and a novel.  She regularly takes part in readings and performance poetry events. Website:  www.isabeldelrio.com

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