Also known as St.Elmo's Fire, is a common occurrence on the bayou. It's pockets of methane gas that spontaneously alight when combined with static electricity. There are many folklores about the origin or spiritual make up of these little fires.
My connection with these are literary. My grandparents told us the myths as bedtime stories, along with tales of Loup Garoux, and the Cat Lady. Something about these little fires spark my imagination and curiosity, and get me thinking about the spiritual connections I have to the beliefs of my grandmother. I knew her better as a young child than I do now, and maybe its too late to get her to re-tell the childhood stories that so shape my writing now.
I found this picture today online. I'm going to write about it (not here) but its still stirring. I think I may need a break from volleying back and forth between the unfinished larger works that are frustrating me right now and do some imagery writing.
Tonight is also a blue moon.
Hi, not trying to be a mean Troll here. Just trying to be an annoying know-it-all smarty pants.
ReplyDeleteI think Swamp Fire (also Will'O'The Wisp) is different from St. Elmo's Fire. While Swamp Gas is likely something to do with swamp gas and some other form of bio-luminescence, (I'm not sure about methane and static electricity though, sounds explosive to me!), St. Elmo's Fire is most definately the rapid accumulation of static charge on a usually pointy object. What you see in the photograph is St. Elmo's Fire, or Point Discharge, and not the same phenomenon as Swamp Fire.
This fact does not detract from either's curious and intriguing characteristics.