Eclipse glasses, $15, protect your eyes! 

Eclipse glasses, $10, don’t go blind!

We swim through the swell of Union Square,

a sea of tents sells challah and tulips and lavender trinkets.

Like kids in an Imax 3-D theatre we place the rectangle glasses on our eyes,

the lenses like film negatives.

Is it happening yet? 

A dark disc hovers over an orange yolk,

it looks slippery, like a saucer.

The crowd by the challah begins to cheer and inspires the rest — 

the people of union square clap for the sun. 

It’s 2024 but it may as well be 1924,

our sun viewing has hardly advanced from a century before.

And I think, this is what I love, the old timey-ness of it all, 

like we’re watching the first rocket launch to the moon,

sitting on the hoods of cars and tuning our satellite signals.

And I think, here in Union Square, this feels like world peace.

We left our desks to stare at the sky, to stand still in a park,

and I think, how nice we’re still excited about the moon, sun, stars, 

still discovering what’s happening on Mars, 

still dreaming about flying cars, still storing jam in jars.

I squint at the white sun and my head aches.

The crowd thins, 

the price for glasses drops to $5. 

Is that it?