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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Gemini of Leo: The Kites
25° Leo 00′ to 27°Leo 29′
One by one they are lifted by the breeze,
these airframes of fiberglass and paper —
some are persnickety; some loft with ease,
some fly steady; some cavort and caper.
Each climbs into the sky in their turn,
a cloud of structured imagination:
sharks with ferocious teeth, dragons that burn,
or abstract, color-filled creation.
Each mounts the wind in light-hearted splendor
to perform feats — an aerial ballet!
And we gaze up with peculiar wonder,
grateful for their flight. We keep no tally
of the number of times they hit the ground,
or how much we curse whenever they're downed.
Image: A crowd of people on a beach happily launch and fly kites in a strong wind.
Important Relationships
- Part of the Egyptian Term of Jupiter in Leo
- Part of the Egyptian Term of Saturn in Leo
- Part of Decan III of Leo (administrated by Mars): The Banner
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.
