NaPoWriMo #9 – part two: That Moon

This is part 2 of my ninth post for National Poetry Month 2010



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…this is a very sobering piece written precisely to Robert Peake’s prompt at read write poem,
and influenced by prompt #9 at Magpie Tales…

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That Moon

•

that moon
that child
hold eternity’s promise in share

colorful pails on the ocean’s beach
festooned in starfish and octopus

campfire’s ‘neath a canopy of forever stars
jelly and jam on crustless bread

lipstick smeared on a giddy grin
the world of pretend

the strum of imagination
that brings song to the young heart
the thrill of dance to a child’s feet
like god’s marionette
that drives away the limp of sorrow

but now
summer’s nocturne
has robbed the colors of the day

families gather to reminisce of
the reds oranges blues
the violets and periwinkles
so as not to forget

in hopes that the joy will return
to massage the rigid cold to warmth again
the sun to re-torch the heavens

the children first see the gray descend
the gapes and gaps
the lever of lies
that loose the flaps that confine the fear

they feel the slippage
the hole in the universe
the backward motion
as all things gentle are sucked in

gray has overcome the landscape
gray is in the houses
and the homes
gray is at the dining table
black awaits in the chamber
when no one sober roams these rooms
and no one safe
is that child

when wrong things burn
bitter as paregoric
the way jugged whiskey
johnny walker
burns the throat
burns that skin
like bare knee on rough rug
like pumice on raw flesh
and winter chills the heart

when laughter bows out
and lies bow in
like the poison in a lizard’s wattle
with denial of the promise
of violet and periwinkle
oranges blues reds

but now
gray

and black waiting at the fringe
with the talon’s piercing sting
and the startled bruise
that begins the tome
of that child’s life
disappearing like smoke up a chimney

that child’s smile stowed away
in keeping for the time of that moon
and that promise
when the periwinkle will return

• • •

rob kistner © 2010

(inspired by a Michael Kenyon poem, “Feast”)

• photorendering entitled “The Edge” – by: rob kistner © 2010

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…for more NaPoWriMo 2010 day nine poems, go to readwritepoem

11 thoughts on “NaPoWriMo #9 – part two: That Moon

  1. Yes, the tenderness, both with which you remember and how you feel still, come through. The visual imagery is strong. The song like an echo disappearing with every wave receding and the change in color of the moon.

  2. I was bowled over, by your Moon poem. Then I idly clicked on the fibreart (being a passionate quilter) and was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of your wife’s pieces (not forgetting your contributions) and also the poem. Thank you for letting us see them.

  3. Love the photo–

    Tenderness, strong feelings, shine through — dripping from the moon on to the ocean rivulets of thoughts cascading into a liquid flow of creative ideas.

    Joanny

    ditto on your wife’s fiber art — museum quality – where does she show her art in Oregon?

  4. How hurriedly the magic and joy of childhood escapes the earth to return to the moon. Once these magical worlds were ours and the many colours now faded to gray dull-luster waiting for the inevitable “talon” to snatch what’s left of our already dead “gray” souls. An amazing and insightful poem Rob. I particularly love these lines:

    “the children first see the gray descend
    the gapes and gaps
    the lever of lies
    that loose the flaps that confine the fear”

    Yet there is always the perennial “hope” that these colours will return one day. I like how you left the possibility of return open-ended. Gives one hope. And with hope and faith, the promise to return. Blessings! Excellent wordage.

  5. Oh, for a time…life, the mystery of life…life, the cycle of life…

    Life, a wonderful subject to talk about and is as endless as the sky, as colorful as the reflection of the moon!

    Thanks for this beautiful poem Rob!

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