Secrets

For Open Link Night at dVerse Poets Pub.

Secrets
“And stare through the wet branches of an oak
In winter, & realize I am looking at the stars
Again.” Winter Stars by Larry Levis

the stars in winter hold secrets
close to their hearts.
their silence tells of sleeping bees
and bare trees and falling flakes of snow.
they hold these secrets close to their hearts –
telling no one except the night sky.
they wait for pink spring
and the waking of the bees.

The Chef

For Skylover’s Word List. A word list for thinking persons. I wrote poems about Dorian Grey and his life and times for my PhD in Fine Arts. This is an old old poem re-written using words from the Word List. And this one is for Shay who loves my poems about Dorian Grey. The List For December: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5hHd0alUQN/ And for the prompt at dVerse Poet’s Pub. I am not sure if it is an “apostrophe”.

The Chef
“A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.” Rabindranath Tagore

Dorian Grey watched the sun
sinking below the horizon,
lambent, flickering out of sight.
chained stars gave the illusion of light
and false camaraderie.
He took the needle filled with
heroin and injected it into his veins.
Beside the trash cans outside the restaurant
he looked again at the stars,
with no curiosity.
in this life he was a chef.
he wore the illusion like a tatty robe
and soon, in the dawn
he would strip it from himself.
indecision – should he hang himself
at dawn or continue to live?
he pulled the needle from his arm.
no. he would continue to live
cursed with eternal life.
he didn’t need to die.
he only needed to look at his portrait.
the chained stars needed to be set free –
he didn’t think he had the strength.
he went back inside to finish the night shift.

Curtain of Night

A quadrille for De who hosts today at Dverse Poets Pub. A quadrille is a poem, any form, sans title, of exactly 44 words using the prompted word. The word today is “crack” or any variant of the word crack.

strong>Curtain of Night
“I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.” – Jack London

the earth passes through the remnants
of Tempel-Tuttle asteroid.
Fire flies past quicker than thought,
in the blackness of the night,
the curtain cracks
letting the stars pour forth.
sit motionless and silent
becoming one with the stars.
gaze through the window of night.

Stars

Stars
“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

I remember riding in the backseat of the car
while my father drove mama and I
home from a trip.
I would look out the back window
at the blackness of the night.
I was always amazed at the way
the stars followed us home.

Haibun: The Watch

Haibun: The Watch
“Those we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannot touch.” – Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts One and Two

An early leaf burning: smoke wanders and its incense drifts to heaven. The voices of cicadas are silent now in the stand of cedars on the hill. I go to the pile of stones gathered from daily walks down to the creek and back. I bring one back and place it carefully on the pile. I began years ago with the death of friend, and then the death of my mother and the three suicides of friends last July and the death of my cousin Billy last October. I also place a candle in a gallon jar, that will burn though the night. The night will be cloudy, the stars unseen. But that doesn’t mean the stars aren’t there, just hidden from view. Like the loved ones gone before. I will sit on my back porch and watch the candle through the night, keeping watch, drifting in and out of sleep, of dreams. I sit entranced in the midst of the haiku I wish I could write.
the silent cedars
on the hill bear witness
to unseen stars

 

Extinct Moon

Extinct Moon
“Now that I’m older, I have a much better appreciation of nature, and I love being alone.” – Gia Coppola

from this day forward
I am wedded to the stars.
the moon becomes extinct,
no longer shines
guiding us along our way.
I’m trying to be like the stars in the sky
shining on nothing;
waiting till the end of my days,
for you.

Night Music

For my prompt at Wednesday Muse

Night Music
“And the night shall be filled with music…”- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

in the summer night I listen
to the cicadas singing to the moon.
down the road apiece
a dog howls in response.
the sound of my breathing is loud
in comparison.
the moon and the stars listen to the music
of it all and say nothing

Sevenling: A Little Night Music

Sevenling:  Night Music
“Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!” ― Bram Stoker

in the warm summer night
music unites the voices of frogs, crickets,
cicadas and flying bats.

stars sing tales of travelers
and lovers and magicians
and lonely folk like me.

And every night they sing just for me.

Stargazing Rabbit

For Day Six of NAPOWRIMO = Kerry’s Prompt

Stargazing Rabbit
Jason Limberg

>Stargazing Rabbit
“My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today.”
Richard Adams, Watership Down

Under the moon in the argent lighit,
a rabbit slowly hops into view
as I sit on my back steps
breathing in the scents of gardenia and honeysuckle.
The sky is a perfectly clear June night.
Gazing upwards, I look at the stars –
pinpoints of light against the black sky.
the rabbit grazes quietly in the bed of clover
on my lawn. I forbid my husband to cut it down
for visitors such as this.
I watch as it twitches its ears
and it too looks upward, toward the stars.
We both of us together gaze at the stars –
an owl drifts overhead but ignores the rabbit and me.
the dew falls and the air becomes steamy.
The rabbit goes back to munching.
I look up at the stars again and when I look back
at the rabbit, it is gone.
I begin to cry. A friend of mine committed suicide today.

THE AFTER BITS This rabbit brought to mind how I sat at night pondering the why of a friend’s suicide last June.

 

 

Unknown Worlds

For Bjorn’s prompt at Real Toads:  Cosmology and the creation of our universe, our expanding universe.

Unknown Worlds
“f you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” Carl Sagan

I remember the moment when as a child,
I realized there were people I did not know.
I was standing up in the backseat and looking
out the car window at another car full of people.
I said to my papa,
I don’t know those people over there.
My mother turned around and said, of course you don’t.
they don’t live in our neighborhood.
I pondered it.
I remember standing on a chair watching my grandmother
roll out pastry for a pie.
She put it in the oven and I went outside.
I looked up into the blue sky at the sun.
Later that day when it had changed to night
I looked up at the stars.
I know you, I said.
I know all of you.

 

Stars Die

Stars Die
for centuries the stars have circled
the night sky, silent as dust falling –
they blink out
one by one until they die.
the night sea swallows them,
their rotting bodies glowing as phosphorus
on the black sand.

the words I chose: centuries, silent, dust

This Poem is Moon, Stars, and Sun

For Sherry’s prompt at Real Toads, a boomerang metaphor poem in the manner of Hannah Goselin who created the form.  This poem is longer than I like but I have cut it down as much as I can.

This Poem is Moon, Stars, and Sun
This poem is a moon reflected on black water.
This poem is the sun rising over the ocean in an explosion of red.
This poem is the stars floating in the black night sky.

This poem is a green forest rising from the mist.
This poem is green cedars against pure white snow.
This poem is tiny white flowers hiding in spring green grass.

This poem touches us with wonder and awe,
it makes our breath catch in our throats
and look about our feet to not crush those tiny white flowers.

In our wonder and awe we look at the small animals
hiding beneath and under the cedars seeking nourishment and shelter.
The stars fall silent as dust in a dying blaze of fire.
We see the tiny white flowers beneath our feet too late
as we crush them into oblivion.
We weep in sorrow at the death of tiny flowers.
We weep in joy at the rising sun and the night stars
and the moon rippling on the water.
This poem is joy and sorrow,
silence and starry music,
this poem is about living in partnership with the earth.