summer mornings
a cicada orchestra playing their repertoire of
Ralph Vaughn Williams
with a barbershop quartet of frogs
bellowing out their croony love songs
the scent of wilting flowers
petals cracking, shattering
under the slightest brush of
the wind’s hand
and a moon
a persistent moon
a silver pupil in a
brilliantly blue-jay iris
a piercing moon
beautiful Selene and lovely Chang’e
she wanders to places where
she should not
observes domains where
she should not stay
in the sun’s domain,
violent sun
piercing sun
blinding sun,
her radiance does not fade
she stands on her own
how i would like to stand with her
and bask in her shimmering power
all the more so when
she persists in the day
tiger moon
i squint my eyes to see her stripes
well-earned
i open my eyes again and they
disappear
but i don’t forget what i’ve seen
tiger moon
claws hidden under your
veil of snow-like purity
a hunter’s instinct where
prey abounded before
tiger moon
warrior in the sky
Poet’s note: A few years ago, I realized that you could occasionally still see the moon in the morning, even when the sun was rising into the air. This poem is based on my appreciation of the moon for persisting, so clearly, even in a sky which it does not “belong” to.
Cover Photo Source: Fine Art America
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