Eclipse
Vince Gotera
dread Bakunawa
dragon breaches from ocean
swallows bright full moon
This haiku is based on Philippine mythology. The bakunawa is a sea dragon that hankered to eat the seven moons that were in our ancient sky. He ate six of the moons until people figured out they could create a din—banging pots and pans, for example—to frighten the bakunawa into regurgitating the last moon, the one we now see, each time he tried to eat it. This myth is a creation story that explained lunar eclipses.
