retroactive moon in the
shadow of presumption
this moon keeps showing up everywhere I turn
in my words, my bedroom window,
the music that plays through my dreams
on a good day, i pretend that this means something
a sign of some connection or some secret
between mother nature and myself
on a bad day, i think it means i am obsessed
with things that don’t exist
and just like the gravity that holds me down
there is nothing to be seen but consequence
we don’t float away and therefore, gravity exists
we don’t see a hole in the sky and therefore,
the moon is made of cheese or stardust
or some old man’s twisted smile
i don’t want to hold hands with either
i just want to look up and be glad that magic exists
i want to walk off the edge of a cliff and know that I will fall
but there is no correct answer
your moon is the same as mine and the same
force keeps us earthbound
oh, i know you’d like to offer your own interpretation
you dance and i fly and we pretend again and again
that this is something other than science
and in the end what keeps us grounded
is not the dinners and the datebooks and the deadlines
but the final knowledge that we cannot hide from the moon
nor can we float out into space to offer up a kiss
she will always be there, longer and older and
higher than any one of us or all of us together
at night the tides she pulls run crazy through my body
over shores i cannot cover or expose
she is adversary’s ancient echo
drawing us in and under and over ourselves
nothing trite or romantic or representative
of anything other than existence
the cold hard truth hides in all of us,
lit up and made golden by a sun who knows
little more than violence
this moon is anti matter that matters
more than she will show
rhythm and bone
in sky’s last cradle
hollow heart rocking
to and fro
October 22nd, 2013 at 9:56 am
i read you every morning and always, always, i feel the poetry sweating through your skin. this morning, this poem, i felt more. i felt anger and acceptance and with it, non-acceptance. i read each line aloud and almost felt sorry for the moon, wanted to say that no, we don’t share the same moon, yours is tethered to you, and mine is tied to me, but of course i would be lying. she has an eye open on all of us.
i forgot this was a poem, and, that, like forgetting that bud white was really russell crowe, is the highest compliment i can offer. i forgot and fell into the words. i don’t care about the rules of poetry – poetry needs no rules. poetry has the moon and you.
October 22nd, 2013 at 10:40 am
Just incredibly beautiful!!
October 22nd, 2013 at 11:07 am
wow. what an exploration of the moon…and her meaning and our limitations under her, though she pulls us on in the tide of our blood…and if nothing else i find comfort in her always being there….to listen.
October 22nd, 2013 at 12:52 pm
Jones wrote a poem within his comments, something I do often; just get so carried away by someone’s poetics that our own can be the only response. I love it that the old man in the moon has a feminine gender, like a ship. I used to think of mountains as male, but my wife has taught me that peaks are, and have always been, female; point taken. Your last stanza is wonderful, really caps the epic piece.
October 22nd, 2013 at 12:54 pm
Dear Mrs. Mediocrity…. wow. This poem looms farther from mediocrity than the distance to the moon…. I feel completely in your debt for sharing this wonderfully written poem. I can’t say for certain if I just haven’t had a little too much caffeine today, regardless I am still eager to say this is one of the greatest poems I have read from one of our own contemporary artists. You are incredibly gifted and give me great hope that all poetry will not go the way of fanciful flight succumbing to magical unicorns or inventions of what love should be when wrapped in rose petals and moon beams.
I found the following to be the thesis of your poem for me personally:
oh, i know you’d like to offer your own interpretation
you dance and i fly and we pretend again and again
that this is something other than science
It is most likely true that the moon is actually nothing more than a hunk of cheese or stardust, but pretending that the moon holds the hearts of thoughts of everyone I have ever loved makes this very scientific life bearable for me… Thank you for sharing this.
October 22nd, 2013 at 2:03 pm
You always amaze me with the casual brilliance with which you write. I loved the imagery here, esp.
rhythm and bone
in sky’s last cradle
hollow heart rocking
to and fro
October 22nd, 2013 at 3:09 pm
really exquisite ending. I loved this.
October 22nd, 2013 at 3:28 pm
This is beautiful. Love how you carry this haunting by the sojourn of the moon all the way through the poem, elaborate on it, yet it always carries more within it. The last stanza is brilliant.
October 22nd, 2013 at 3:30 pm
A turly great read of an attempt to define the constancy of things. >KB
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:14 pm
This is a wonderful work. So intelligent, and with such great articulation. What is it about the moon this week? It’s shown up in at least a couple of poems I’ve seen. Very fine writing here. Much enjoyed.
Steve K
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:14 pm
“at night the tides she pulls run crazy through my body
over shores i cannot cover or expose”
Fantastic double-meaning! Loved this poem, very interesting perspective.
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:20 pm
The image of the moon, and the contrast between the science and the metaphysical is so great. We all know the reality of gravity (!) but wish for something more… why not the moon made of cheese? or drift into space… loved this.
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:35 pm
superlative ~ M
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:39 pm
I’d have to say that this is one of the best moon poems I’ve ever read. There’s something metaphysical, wed to the scientific, the poetic. And she does have such influence on many of us.
October 22nd, 2013 at 4:46 pm
i just want to look up and be glad that magic exists…I love this line and the entire poem..we will always have questions..and not always answers…Beautiful.
October 22nd, 2013 at 5:01 pm
You were very inspired by the moon. You have explored it totally & showed many shades of meaning. Impressive!
October 22nd, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Really enjoyable read – one to come back to again and again, because I’m sure I’ll keep finding new things to admire and savour in it.
October 22nd, 2013 at 6:18 pm
I love your moon poem ~ And though much have been written about it, the theme is mysterious as time itself ~ That last stanza knocked me off ~ Thanks for another superb poem ~
October 22nd, 2013 at 7:07 pm
The ending just grabbed me and twisted in my heart.
October 22nd, 2013 at 8:00 pm
I enjoyed reading your moon poem as it always holds a mystical allure for me. The moon is captivating at times.
October 22nd, 2013 at 8:12 pm
Wow…this is so very good.
October 22nd, 2013 at 9:16 pm
Jeez Kelly, you continually outdo yourself. I feel the pull of the moon so strongly and I love your exploration of it here. Amazing.
October 22nd, 2013 at 9:44 pm
O, cradle me in that anti-matter that matters, always there no matter what romance we cloak it in or whose eyes it fills. Marvelous and engaging progression of thought and image in this poem.
October 22nd, 2013 at 10:06 pm
I really enjoyed this! Great poem! I especially liked the line: “i just want to look up and be glad that magic exists” Me too. 🙂
October 22nd, 2013 at 11:18 pm
I have to mention the title because it is BRILLIANT, I do love the outward stall it sets.
and we have oddly covered the same subject in our writes this week (to a degree) moons on our minds!
we don’t float away and therefore, gravity exists
we don’t see a hole in the sky and therefore,
the moon is made of cheese or stardust
such a strong and pulsing narrative really pulled me in (must be gravitational pull) but the ideas you have make me sit up with a nod of total understanding.
superb and
the cold hard truth hides in all of us,
lit up and made golden by a sun who knows
little more than violence
this moon is anti matter that matters
more than she will show
is just wow
to me.
October 23rd, 2013 at 12:39 am
I loved this meditation on the moon, on gravity… on the fact that it’s all everyone’s moon, but each has a different take on it. Also, that you feminized “moon,” which is so right. Women have that special attachment to her cycle.
Very lovely final stanza. BRILL. Amy
October 23rd, 2013 at 12:45 am
I love the night sky and the moon is the jewel of night sky. Nice one.
October 23rd, 2013 at 11:45 am
A monumental work, it altered me at the cellular level.