For a while in the 80s I lived in a tiny studio apartment overlooking Calgary’s picturesque Elbow River. There was a small stretch of bank along the river that was part of the building’s grounds, and the manager would run a sprinkler there in summer. One day I was watching a Belted kingfisher flying back and forth over the water, when he suddenly veered up over the grass and flew straight through the curve of the water just as the sun made a rainbow in the spray. I ended up writing a poem about it.
Here in Ontario, kingfishers fly along the breakwall constantly. I also have rainbows from the sun-catcher crystals I hung in the kitchen window. At certain times of the day and year, the light goes right through the kitchen, across the hall and into the library. The other morning I took this picture of the sun-catcher rainbow on the bookshelf. Later on, when the kingfisher flew by, I thought of posting the poem and the photo together. You can click to enlarge the text.
Posts
