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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Sagittarius of Sagittarius: The Family Feast
00° Sagittarius 00′ to 2° Sagittarius 29′
The aunts and uncles come from all over —
the cousins gather from college and school,
slipping small treats to the old hound, Rover.
"No politics" is the oft-ignored rule,
though grandma cooks the celebrated meal,
and the men ignore their turn with dishes.
Uncle Fred holds his opinions like steel,
unyielding — or springy — as he wishes.
It's argument he wants, not beer nor wine.
The kids play games with a ball in the yard,
all aware the adults have crossed some line
that makes this annual gathering hard.
They're plotting changes for when they're in charge,
not knowing how they'll shift as they grow large.
Image: a group of adults sit inside and talk while a group of children play outside under bare trees.
Important Relationships
- Part of the Egyptian Term of Jupiter
- Part of Decan I of Sagittarius (administrated by Mercury): The Poisoned Arrow
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.
