This is a poem in this series of 144 poems that I’m writing based on the dodeks, or twelfth parts, of the Zodiac signs. As far as I know, everybody else calls them dodekatemoria, but that’s a very complicated word to say, so I just call them dodeks.
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Capricorn of Taurus: New Owner of Old House
22° TAurus 30′ to 24° TAurus 59′
The furnace rumbles and the pipes shiver,
and crickets chirp when someone goes upstairs.
One bathroom sounds like a hidden river;
gurgles and hisses catch them unawares.
A switch in the parlor turns nothing on,
but a kitchen plug re-sets three breakers.
This style of light bulb is long since gone —
and if you sold that, you’d find no takers
for even a dime. How long has that stain
been on this carpet? That wall? Those doors?
And how long must this wallpaper remain,
or these broken tiles cover the floor?
Yet don’t condemn the insensitive jerk,
who only suggests that you get to work.
Image: A man with a toolbox consults a plumbing manual while a stove nearby throws off sparks.
Important Relationships
- Part of Ptolemy’s Term of Saturn
- Part of Decan III of Taurus (administrated by Saturn): The Prayer Beads
Colophon
This is a part of a series of poems based on the dodekatemoria, or twelfth parts, of the Zodiac signs. The dodekatemoria are sub-segments of the Zodiac, each representing two degrees thirty minutes (2° 30′) of arc; there are 144 dodeks (as I call them) in the full Zodiac, or twelve in each sign. Each dodek is supposed to be a recapitulation or miniature repetition or summary of its parent zodiac sign, as though it were filtered through the lens of the main sign.
The Sun crosses this distance of 2° 30′ in about two and a half days, making these dodeks cognate with the Moon, which crosses one sign of the Zodiac, or thirty degrees (30°) in about two and a half days. The Sun’s passage through a dodek thus mirrors the Moon’s passage through a sign, and squeezes a “mini-year” of passage through twelve signs into a single month.
Each series of dodeks begins at 0° 00′ of its parent sign with the same sign, and there are four dodeks in each sequence of 10° degrees. Each poem in this series will give a (my) name of the dodek, its relevant degrees, a sonnet describing it, a 1-2 sentence description of the dodek, and some other information.
