Our WiFi’s been on-and-off here in the Sierra foothills because of the terrible weather in Texas. Reminds me of when we lived at snowline in South County; snowbound without power or phone for days sometimes but, so far from town, at least we had a woodstove and kept a full pantry. Here’s a poem from one of those white-out blackouts:
Power-Down
The satellite-dish dreams, filled up
with snow. Tonight it yields no visions.
Electricity’s a marvel when the lines,
unbroken, in sunlight shimmer.
Somewhere up above, stars blink
and beam behind thick curtains, dancing
in their constellations.
Down here
on the other side of candle
you offer half a smile.
We share the poet’s crumbs of bread-
loaf and the dregs of wine,
the last diminished half-note
of cut-off song
before the power died.
And now we’ll lift the candle-
stick to bed and let
the world fill up with night.
~ Taylor Graham
from Still Life with Wood Smoke (Mt. Aukum Press, 2002)