For Lillian’s Quadrille prompt at dVerse. A quadrille is a poem of exactly 44 words built around the prompted word which today is “harbor”. Will also be posting on Real Toads Tuesday Platform.
Safe at Home
“Maybe my little brother, maybe I would wake up and look out the window at the night sky and suddenly it would fill with stars and golden mist, and we’d pretend for a second we were somehow deep inside the Milky May, a million winking lights, but we knew where we really were. We were almost home.” Anthony Bourdain, Parts Unknown New Jersey
The moon has sailed the night skies
of September, slowly moving through
the black waters sparkling with stars.
It has sailed through storms and calms
until at last it harbors itself
glowing, rich,
full and fecund –
Pulled up at the place known as home.
September full moon
kanzen sakura 
Sep 24, 2018 @ 15:30:24
I love the quote and your beautiful write, Toni, – and what a word – fecund – it may find a harbor in one of my poems soon *smiles*
Sep 24, 2018 @ 15:45:25
Great! It is in my top 50 of favorite words.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 15:31:05
Oh the full-moon is up… I saw it almost like this last night before I went to bed… a sense of fulfillment in that moon of September.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 15:51:25
Yes it is. The harvest moon is always a beauty.
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Sep 24, 2018 @ 15:48:17
What a lovely write about the lovely moon!
Sep 24, 2018 @ 15:52:14
Thank you Jo.
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Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:02:18
I LOVE the idea of the moon sailing….and the use of ‘harbor” as a verb here….so beautifully writ, Toni! 🙂
PS: I think I must read some books by and about Anthony Bourdain!
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:07:02
He was quite a guy. I sat and watched the program last night on CNN, his last as the narrator. I wept at the end of it, the last tidbit he left behind. I would watch parts of Parts Unknown on CNN if you can before they disappear. That is where you find out so much about him and how he showed us all to be good guests. The New Jersey segment is especially poingnant, from which that quote is taken. I met him several times during the course of my years. A real Jersey boy to his core. I miss him dreadfully.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:03:09
I know the moon as boat thing has been done before, but you really own it here. Lovely imagery, lovely wording.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:09:38
Thank you Sarah. I was afraid it would be passe’ but it was what I felt about that huge harvest moon last nigh!
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:12:28
You’ve just reminded me to pop outside and see what she’s doing tonight!
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:13:24
She is in the kitchen now providing a glow for us there.
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Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:06:01
It is a lovely image 🙂
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:09:56
Thank you Jane
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:11:58
🙂
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:23:18
Harvest moon poetics supremo–this one really pulls together 44 words brilliantly. You had me at /slowly moving through the black waters sparkling with stars. I loved Tony too; God knows what demons he wrestled.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 16:30:06
I had actually met him on several occasions. He was the ultimate person who taught us to be good guests. I have my thoguhts but they are only my thoughts as to his suicide. I miss him dreadfully.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 17:33:06
A lovely poem, Toni. I love the idea of the moon sailing and then harboring.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 17:58:52
Love the quote by Anthony. Am looking forward to seeing that harvest full moon tonight: glowing, rich,
full and fecund –
Sep 24, 2018 @ 18:03:10
I love the harvest moon… and I love this poem even more ❤
Sep 24, 2018 @ 18:36:21
Oh, this sailing metaphor works so well, as the moon-ship wades through the “black waters” and reaches its harbor.
I love the use of “fecund”, which gives a nice depth to the image of the full moon. 🙂
Sep 24, 2018 @ 19:53:47
I love writings of the moon and yours is so timely, Toni. Now I want to go outside and take a look at it. And fecund is a great word! 🙂
Sep 24, 2018 @ 20:08:51
Oh my I like this take on the prompt and it is very timely with the full moon. Well done.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 21:00:21
Love this description/depiction of the moon as a traveler and a seeker of home.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 21:12:38
The moon wandering the black sea on cosmic sails is a wonderful concept. Your words juxtaposed with the late great Anthony Bourdain resonates with a sense of both wonder and longing. Lovely write.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 21:49:59
Thank you Barry
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Sep 24, 2018 @ 21:47:00
I really enjoyed this one as the full moon arrives in the night sky. Tomorrow ,I will be drumming in celebration of the moon energy.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 21:49:38
Hooray! Good for you.
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Sep 24, 2018 @ 22:17:40
Our harvest moon here last night glowed orange like a pumpkin rising…lovely write, Toni! Sad that Bourdain chose to sail away…
Sep 24, 2018 @ 22:21:35
It was a lovely moon indeed. And yes. Tony’s leaving is heartbreaking
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Sep 24, 2018 @ 22:22:46
It’s cool that you got to meet him personally.
Sep 24, 2018 @ 23:09:18
We’re if an age, both chefs, both if us in the kitchen of the 70’s. And then later. I burned out and walked away. I survived and he didn’t. I met him thrice.
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Sep 24, 2018 @ 22:24:07
Moon sailing through the black September sky until it is home and full…lovely
Sep 25, 2018 @ 01:18:17
Oh I am sure this poem made September moon smile. 🙂
Sep 25, 2018 @ 02:26:12
I enjoyed the Anthony Bourdain quote, Toni, and the way your quadrille extends it into a beautifully painted moon-and-seascape. I love the image of the moon:
‘… slowly moving through
the black waters sparkling with stars’
and
‘…at last it harbors itself
glowing, rich,
full and fecund –
Pulled up at the place known as home’.
‘Full and fecund’ is a wonderful phrase – it feels good to say aloud. 😉
Sep 25, 2018 @ 02:54:15
how imaginative and so precise to say that the moon when at its fullest is home – an image I won’t soon forget
Sep 25, 2018 @ 04:32:27
The idea of the moon sailing through the night skies is beyond lovely! ❤️
Sep 25, 2018 @ 09:29:45
Loved this write!! It builds to the very last word…such a lovely thought!!
Sep 25, 2018 @ 14:09:58
Vivid imagery, and I especially like your last 2 lines.
Sep 25, 2018 @ 19:06:40
Beautiful!
Sep 25, 2018 @ 19:59:33
How very beautiful, Toni! Perfect, really.
I love the quote too. I only heard of Bourdain after his death. Must try and catch some of his shows. He sounds like a true treasure.
Sep 25, 2018 @ 20:05:55
He was Rosemary. Not only an amazing chef but he taught us how to be good guests. The New Jersey segment of Parts Unknown was incredibly poignant and nostalgic. His younger brother was with him in this segment. I had the good fortune of meeting him a couple of times. Funny, earnest, gritty, full if heart. He took us with him on his journeys and gave us his all.
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Sep 25, 2018 @ 21:45:34
The moon, full and bright … ah, home.
Sep 26, 2018 @ 11:58:20
The September moon has been spectacular these last nights.. surely worthy of its own poem.
Sep 26, 2018 @ 14:38:37
Yes it has been beautiful. Thank you
Sep 26, 2018 @ 16:55:34
Such a beautiful idea, the moon arriving home.
Sep 27, 2018 @ 19:07:35
Popular topic, this epic moon of ours. ~Z
Oct 09, 2018 @ 21:56:29
I love this, the moon’s journey and then the final line “Pulled up at the place known as home.” So wonderful because much as I love traveling, coming home is great too.
Nov 30, 2018 @ 13:03:21
Amazing write-up!
Nov 30, 2018 @ 13:36:06
Thank you
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Dec 01, 2018 @ 19:41:12
Thank you