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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Cancer of Cancer: The Caterer’s Kitchen
0° Cancer 00′ to 2° Cancer 29′
The telephone rings, and there’s a delay —
or the foreman bellows, “stop the presses!”
There’s something afoot, getting in the way,
but none will say. No one confesses
that they’re the root of this detour in time,
only decreeing that workers stand down.
No evidence suggests there’s been a crime.
No one famous died; no deed of renown
suddenly occurred — the world’s just on pause,
as though its spirit was working to rule,
refusing to go, and sinking her claws
into the floor, as stubborn as a mule.
In all ways it’s possible to say no,
things just won’t budge, or ease into the flow.
Image: Two parents and the barbers trie to get the child into the barber’s chair, but the child refuses, happy with their long and luxurious locks.
Important Relationships
- Part of Ptolemy’s Term of Saturn in Gemini
- Part of Decan III of Gemini (administrated by the Sun): The Executioner’s Sword
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.
