Vow of the Night Flying Moon

Vow of the Night Flying Moon

Full Moon  March 7, 2023

 

On water’s edge I turn from undulant

sunset-fringed cloud horizon

& the hope of cetacean spumes

wishing glimpses of free cerulean bodies

emergent on endlessly silvered waters

the new binoculars now trained on the moon

                             (O)

eyes for my eyes with nearsighted glasses between

quivering shadow hare & shivering luminescent craters

my hands slight tremble magnified

this friend of winter sky untroubled

by our history of killing what we love

my beloved close by in our patch of sweet weeds

 

glow of postwar shoreline porchlights

one out of every two not illuminated

our living present of active annihilation

of what we fail to revere enough to save

our aversion to noble poverty impoverishing all

 

our two earth faces encircled by dusk moths

witness to one brown bat shadow

spiraling brushstroke of abundance

by the ocean beneath appearance

Jupiter Venus the unnamed manifold

 

forget sight in feeling the cool air

image real beneath our thoughts

close glass that sharpens distance

focus on this season these sensations

 

vow

to live by seeing impact

oh my small vow to grow small

so that this world body of ours may be

vast

 

 

Poem by Qayyum Johnson

Painting by Suiko McCall. Vow of the Night Flying Moon, 2022. Copper oxide & avocado on paper, 6×10″. suiko.art