I Praise the Moon, Even When She Laughs
I got drunk once and woke in Korea
with you watching over me.
Odd, how you spend seasons looking
down, and I, up. If I lived in a cloud,
could you discern me from the other
particles? Perhaps your down is
peripheral, or left, or non-directional. I can
fathom this without measuring scope,
yet I feel queasy about the possibility
of being merely one vaporous drop
coalescing among others, unnamed
and forgettable, awaiting the particular
atmospheric conditions to plummet to my
fate. As if we control our own gravities!
One winter I grilled pork tenderloin under
your gaze, unaware that the grass
around me had caught fire, and when I
unwound the hose and turned on the
faucet you laughed, as the hose wasn’t
connected and only my feet were
extinguished. Dinner was delayed
that evening, but I praised you just the same.
I look up, heedless in the stars’ grip, unable
to retrace all those steps taken to this here,
now, but still you sway above the branches,
sighing, lighting my path, returned once
again, even if not apparent at all times. Every
star signals a departure. Each is an arrival.
* * *
“I Praise the Moon, Even When She Laughs” was published in Sourland Mountain Review in January 2017.
This is wonderful. The moon is a spectacle of great fascination for me, and you’ve rendered your own fascination with poetic elegance. I’m curious what your thoughts were on line-breaks, how did you decide where lines should begin and end? Why the unrhymed couplet structure?
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My line breaks are dependent upon sound and rhythm – I read aloud as I write. Couplets are my “default” structure, and while I enjoy the rhyming structures in sonnets and ghazals, I don’t work much with rhymes outside of those forms.
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Thanks for the insight.
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You’re very welcome!
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Wow, this is awesome, thank you
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Thanks very much!
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Reblogged this on Carla’s Personal Blog.
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Thanks for reblogging!
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You’re welcome
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I really like this, Robert. 🙂
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Thank you, Merril!
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Beautiful!
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Thanks, Daniel!
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Really like this one, Robert – how we see things differently…
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The differences make us human.
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love this!
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Thanks, Nancie!
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Wonderful!
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Thank you, Jazz!
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Love the marrying of two worlds
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They belong together somehow…
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They (the moon) loves fiercely. And knows you, Robert. Oh do they know your precious face!
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Thank you, M.T. You’re very generous.
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The blessings of the moon. Always wondrous. (K)
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It is indeed!
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This is a beautiful, intimate world you’ve weaved. Well done as always.
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I’m so pleased you like it, AM. Thank you.
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What a lovely rhythm to the lines as I’m reading them. Your thoughts about the moon are also quite lovely. 🙂
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Thank you, as always, Susi.
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You are very welcome and totally deserving of praise, Robert! 🙂
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😊
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