Moon Poetry
Luna, a grand circle with so many
circles of different sizes on the surface
Deimos, triangular potato complete with some scattered eyes
Phobos, lumpy cratered rock been nicked big time a few times
Ganymede, giant crystal sphere, mostly cloudy, with what looks like a night sky inside
Callisto, like looking at the Earth at night, lights everywhere, but no water
Io, a huge round pizza, salivate at all that bubbling cheese
Europa, a hazy blue ball laden with crowded crimson scratching, like a child drew on it
Titan, appears a heavily clouded blue and green, yin and yang, north and south
Rhea, the whitest moon, is it made of chalk, can I draw with it
Iapetus, could one possibly fit more craters on a single circular object, and that seam in the middle, a death star
Dione, one of the prettiest, with long pale streaks like prehistoric cave art
Tethys, a moon's moon, textbook example of a crater-filled bright world
Enceladus, so many grooves all over, did a clay potter craft it
Mimas, the real inspiration for the death star, with that one enormous crater near the equator
Titania, much like our moon, with even better streaked light spots seemingly evenly spaced
Oberon, sporting some extensive rays, is the carbon copy of our lunar wonder
Umbriel, blue, dominantly striated blues, with a smooth baby blue behind
Ariel, is there a message etched on its gray surface, the solar system logo
Miranda, seems to be an ice cream world, a snowy scoop roughly packed, ready for eating, or throwing
Triton, like a marble, sporting a northern azure haze swirling above a muddy mass
Charon, mini-moon, a mere 1,000 odd kilometers across, got a red smudge for a north pole
And dozens more little balls and potatoes of shapes larger and smaller than Los Angeles
Previously published by the Cadence Collective
Mythology
"To such
endless impressions
we poets give ourselves absolutely,
making, in silence, omen of mere event,
until the world reflects the deepest needs of the soul."
--From “Omens” by
Louise Gluck
O
Jupiter you are
A small hole of light
In a darkening blue sky
Below
In a pond on Earth
Ducks swim, create little waves
Which glimmer like ribbons
Reflect lamplight
As you and the moon shine
With our sun's celestial power
(Are you both her beloved flowers)
Only you
Are much farther
Than our orbiting fragment
Born out of a collision billions of years ago
O
Jupiter tonight you are
More than a twinkling dot
Rising in the darkened indigo sky
People walk by
The pond and look
At ducks waddling up
Easy to enjoy every day
I want to tell them
Cast your eyes high
Gaze at the shining speck
That doesn't seem to move
Yet slowly rises
Like the grand moon
Far away where no
Eyes can see a distant Earth
We're just a pale
Blue point in that night
Dominated by many moons
And nearby sister Saturn's rings
O
My Jupiter you are
The overlooked sight
Unseen by most denizens
Mothers and children
Throw breadcrumbs at
The dark comical ducks in
The park by the pond's shore
Don't think to crane
Even at the gibbous moon
Which provides illumination overwhelmed
By sulfur lamps on poles each evening
The faraway planet
Hasn't been this close
Since 1963 and not again
So proximate until 2022
By then I might be
Getting ringed once more
Because I am at the park
Waiting for my lovely visitor
Who appears
In my life every day
And I am thankful to the heavens
That our sun comes up each morning
So I can witness
The moon at dusk
And her eyes and smile
Beside me like stars to a planet
Maybe we will
Revisit this location in
A future close as our current
Earthly rotating observation
Around each other
Present every diurnal
Forging twilight sparks
With circling tongues
O
Jupiter this time you are
The most welcome new guide
In my changing evening sky
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