Sonic Fireflies

the beauty of jazz & blues voices,
syncopation of syllables flowing
free form through improvising sentences
sluicing, embracing, metaphors glowing
eyes in the dark are words imitating
fireflies pulsating bright in a black sky
are gleaming eyes of a prowling black panther
suddenly clicking on bright as flashlight beams
under moon rays probing hidden places
isolated mysterious somewhere
deep in a buzzing alive countryside

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“I wrote my first draft of ‘Sonic Fireflies’ in the summer of 2020 in Gloster, Mississippi, a small, rural town of about 900 people and the birthplace of my wife, Margaret Porter Troupe. I wrote it while sitting outside at night watching the abdomens of fireflies blinking on and off as they flew pulsating among the shadows and branches of trees and small bushes. The fireflies reminded me of the bright eyes of a black panther or flashlight beams blinking on and off under a beautiful full moon with its rays probing hidden places. I titled the poem ‘Sonic Fireflies’ because I could hear insects buzzing everywhere in the darkness of the countryside, so alive with sound, I thought I was listening to a symphonic orchestra. I wrote the poem in free verse, though I chose 11 lines—I love writing poems in 7 or 11 lines, with 7 or 11 syllables per line—because it reminds me of winning the game of dice; when you throw 7 or 11, rather than snake eyes, you win.”
—Quincy Troupe