Rise Up & Purify the Sky Moon
Rise Up & Purify the Sky Moon
New Moon July 5, 2024
The thin model of a spider’s soul collects green pollen & shimmers
most sensually in the first hour of sunrise
Beveled glass portholes cast subtle arcing rainbows
they perambulate with painted shapes of change
& make surprise appearances on the page
There is much to admire about light
its freedom to play slowly, to acquiesce & collaborate
Last night artillery shelling boomed in shorecloud phosphorous
proud simulacra of real assault elsewhere
violence the model men in particular have made, in which they are caught
a feedback loop of isolation that destroys what nurtures
& abandons itself to greed & speed
It is difficult to imagine how lonely we will be
if the rising in the east evokes no chorus from the birds
Cooper’s Hawk, at war with no one, a satellite who can see faster & farther
gives its shrill five-times call from on high
past—present, future—future—future
past—present, future—future—future
Skies are blue with a rimline haze of spent particulates
science says to hold our breath & wait to breathe
until the sticky poisons have settled
The new moon has already begun to polish the air:
rise up
that we may be together
that we may be safe
that we may be peaceful
& see our own soul’s shapeliness in the nimbus-cast of one another
Poem by Qayyum Johnson
Painting by Suiko McCall.
Our own soul’s shapeliness in the nimbus-cast of one another
, 2024. Ink on paper, 11x9". Prints available at suiko.art.