"may bouquet in daylight moonlight"

may bouquet in daylight moonlight

for Sheila
afternoon half moon eastward, sky’s acrylic
cerulean without a hint of brushstroke or

cumulus, flat & infinite above the bus stop—
still, for all their one-time crimson, lavender, bridal

white extravagance, rhododendrons shrink inward to-
day to brown husks beyond the concept of

spring—or splash across the sidewalk in
technicolor patterns determined by nothing more

nothing less than a May breeze—random &
fleshy as scraps of memory—

it was another thing in April, kwanzan blossoms
frothing on cherries lining the avenue—

the world different then in ways that make no sense—
except as this half moon swells ghostly into

its next phase—(when astronauts
touched down on the moon, which moon was it?)

at moonset fresh scarlet roses will carry on
opening maps into June & we’ll go
                         back to a place we haven’t been before


Jack Hayes
© 2015



(posted 5/28; revised 5/29)