Friday, January 27, 2017

january moon


(8 quatrains)

1. new moon

clematis floats ragged white along chain link;
sun glows overhead, a full moon in frayed clouds—

some of the power poles seem angled darkly:
in overcast, night sphere’s negative image

2. waxing crescent

as the glass door opens eight crows flying west;
yin & yang in paint on a white sandwich board—

Venus hovers between dark maple fingers:
gracile arc rests on a fleshtone horizon

3. half moon

parenthesis of the pedestrian fence
curves above I-5; crows describe erratic

arcs across tattered pastel clouds: higher up,
half circle nearly vertical in deep blue

4. waxing  gibbous

snow whirled in a gust dashes against the bricks;
the black weeping cherry boughs droop, immobile—

yellow light glow, one white car hesitating:
sky has ashed over unconsummated glow

5. full moon

shadow of pickets bends across contoured snow;
the gate won’t fasten again until the melt—

white drift molded to the cotoneaster’s arch:
above cirrus strands, cold eye without pupil

6. waning gibbous

security light’s thawing incandescence
draws out an occasional drip from the eaves,

each droplet a flash above snow-mounded shrubs:
dwindling circle drains white into night sky haze

7. last quarter

rain has brushed asphalt walkways ink black again;
cotoneaster branches a dark alphabet

rid of snow—but the playground remains mottled:
white bowl aslant in morning’s phthalo blue sky

8. waning crescent

white to-go bag caught on a cherry tree branch,
limp & empty; black & white high-tops swing from

the power line, though there seems to be no wind:
thin white vestige must hang behind gray stratus



Jack Hayes
© 2017

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