Sun God Appears

on the campus of the University
of California at San Diego
among endearing neighbors:
Geisel Library, named for Dr.
Seuss, and cheek by jowl
with John Muir College,
named for the
pioneer naturalist and
ur-ecologist. Niki de
Saint Phalle fecit
1983. Curiously,
Sun God manages
to look both matte
and shiny at the
same time. It is a toy.
A man. A bird.
A woman, a bat.
It evokes Calder in its
“plain speaking.” It
evokes poster paint.
Made of fiberglass,
its innards
mask a steel frame
in the public sculpture
garden, because what
is more public than light.
O, Sun God, shine
on us, we are
covered in gold leaf.

From Hear Trains  by Caroline Knox. Copyright © 2019 by Caroline Knox. Used by permission of Wave Books.