Life in the midst of a Super Moon

Even if you’re not yet in focus, this is for you:

Over Here

Are you fierce enough to fall with a startled

Tree, to curl then inward, unleafing in the rain, to

Lie silently devoted to a dark thrumming forest,

Derailing itself one grove at a time?

Are you strong enough to follow the

Black ant’s trail, mining that tree inwardly,

Bite by bite, creating its cottage industry with a

pointed mountain of soft dust?

You are.

I know because I saw you fall; first when your

Marriage toppled, then when you had to stitch

Your breast back on with a pink ribbon tied to your

Shirt and ridiculous pink laces threaded in your shoes.

All the while, you kept a noisy gong going with

Sticks of wood and all that pressing

Downward and inward until you were

Strong and cocooned in winter’s first snow.

You did.  I saw you.

Now here I am on the occasion of my own falling,

Shuddering into the names of diseases that

Sink me into bed and hide me away from the

Mirror, not yet ready for ribbons, pink or otherwise.

I’m still leafing through medical pages, still feeling

The bite of needles, still watching the stitches mend.

The forest is a long way off and I can’t hear the

Tumbling trees; only my voice calling,

here i am.  here i am.  I’m the moon!

over here.

Auburn McCanta

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