“Wow, that’s awesome” “Gee, that’s cool” These words often express ones amazement when looking at a cloudless night and seeing the heavenly bodies. Yet, while many of us are blessed to partake in such a sight, only a few are able to articulate what they see beyond these simple words. Gary Snyder, in his poem “Once Only” does just this. Readers of this poem merely have to close their eyes, open their imaginations and the image of a full moon shining over pristine water on a cloudless night comes into view. But this image becomes even more vivid in ones imagination when one has studied astronomy for the images provoked by even a simple knowledge of astronomy adds a whole new dimension to this picture. I say this from experience. Having read this poem upon first receiving the supplement, the image of a full moon above the water on a cloudless night came to my view. It was an image that could be used as a background for romance and adventure. But now, after two months of P

Since we are told that the poem was written near Singapore, the line “almost at the equator” must have been in reference to the poet’s location at that time since Singapore is pretty close to the equator. “Almost at equinox” would then be the time of the year. The fact that this poem was written on March supports this since the spring equinox occurs at that month. An equinox is when the sun crosses the celestial equator resulting in the equal length of day and night.

Some topics in this essay:
Only” Readers, Almagest Ptolemy, GJ Toomer, John Ruskin, Gary Snyder, Bertrand Russell, Ptolemy Russell’s, , Gary Snyder’s, heavenly bodies, diametrically opposite, Thanks Ptolemy, cloudless night, “once only”, upper culmination, equator equinox, lower culmination, awesome” “gee that’s, day night, length day, moon center, background romance adventure, that’s awesome” “gee, “gee that’s cool”, diametrically opposite moon,