Right Hand Pointing Issue 85

Cody Badaracca

Sunrise in Spain

I understand the cause: Earth’s slow turning in space. Yet watching the sun balloon out of the sea, some primitive reptile, monstrous Lovecraftian god clambering over the precipice, I understand why people shook. Wonder and fear. What was it like for that first man watching that first sunrise? Watching the endless void, blue and pulling out the burning heart of the earth – did he weep? Or scream? Or sit still, numbed by night’s cold. Transfixed by the birth of shadow, this bright orb making the difference between light and the dark. Dilating the small, black holes in his head.