SUM (Slow Unquantifiable Moon)

SUM (Slow Unquantifiable Moon)

Full Moon  June 3, 2023

 

The cats that live here

in our house that isn’t ours

have been killing this spring—

a limp mongoose this morning under hibiscus

unblemished but for dark red blood

staged on the earthward mouth, otherwise

every lash, every fang, perfect.

 

Have perspective

& set yourself free

(we all need help).

 

Frogs from Puerto Rico

are moving inexorably closer this spring

the males throw noisy repetitive boasts

that can be heard 2 miles away—

no one speaks of the ladies

their carpetbagging egg sacs

the new morning of their eyes.

 

It’s too much.

 

Each place on earth

receives moonlight

as newborns do milk

while our dreams

ferment.

 

Strawberry moon, Republican moon

every spring brings a hopeful night

with more energy to stay up & gaze.

 

In our culture we celebrate love & money—

our coyote & bat.

 

The cats deliver

what we don’t want:

birds unable to fly

chameleons dusky & still

lizards too exhausted to run,

a dark stain on the mat

& orphaned livers.

 

Still, we love them.

It is too much,

even for a bodhisattva.

 

Happy birthdays, happy graduations,

condolences, congratulations

keep going, root down

feel it, move on.

 

In our culture

we are open

to everyone.

 

At sunset tonight

long spring light

with Venus bright

one hundred thousand pure white egrets take flight.

 

Poem by Qayyum Johnson.

Painting by Suiko McCall. 100,000 Pure White Egrets Take Flight, 2023. Avocado pit on paper, 20×30″. Available (original and print) at suiko.art.