In 2011 I wrote a poem as a grid: a few nouns, verbs and adverbs that could be combined in either order. It almost worked. One noun was singular where the others were plural, so the columns never quite matched.

Fifteen years later, on August 12th 2026, a total solar eclipse was due over Europe; the first since 1999, and I went back to the grid with that in mind.

It belonged to Saros 126, a series of seventy-two eclipses occurring between 1179 and 2459.

I rebuilt the grid until ten words produced exactly seventy-two poems, one for each eclipse, and wrote the rules out as a Prolog program so that anyone can run them.

The image in this gallery was made to serve as an illustration of the work, consisting of a multi-exposure of various elements -a broken card reader at Hellerup station along with a photo of a hibiscus flower.

In November 2026 Forlaget Akse published the 72 poems in hardcover.

There are two editions, with different front covers and the contents in a different order.

The smaller appeared on 7 November: 84 pages, 12.5 × 19.6 × 1.1 cm, 152 g, ISBN 9788797786772.

The larger followed on 11 November: 86 pages, 15.5 × 23.5 × 1.1 cm, 282 g, ISBN 9788740991338.

Either one holds all seventy-two poems and the complete source code.

For more information, visit:
Sun: 72 Poems for 72 Solar Eclipses.
Sun, Told in Its Own Ten Words.