Now Moon (Starry Thom Lane)

Now Moon (Starry Thom Lane)

Full Moon   November 15, 2024

hi old friend

on your post-life journey

lilting like a lute voice lost in distance

you have begun to waver already becoming

a body of wisps of remembrance longing

for more shapes to squeeze & turn away from

another you bicycle rides in Holland streets

with your painterly eyes scrolled silver

give it your all & don’t be afraid if you can

I am afraid for us all here

for it’s burning out of control

eyes without hearts cannot make art

no matter how widely ingested the rendering

have you become malachite or Mexican agate

jasper oil diesel canvas memories

telling me that you had nothing to say

after stating the “I”

throwing up in the arid west while on retreat

us & the black bears of dzogchen

being in the rush & silence of the highway

imputed passage of time—we did that too

our lineage snow-caved in isolation

all tummo glow from the belly outward

as in all things I adored you

for your torment & life of alienation

where you spied on it with full appreciation

painting within feet of a live saguaro

running toward our embrace

Poem by Qayyum Johnson.

Drawing by Suiko McCall. Ancient Dragon, 2018. White pencil on black paper, 6×6″. Original in a private collection, prints available.