May Moon

(8 quatrains)

1. new moon

kwanzan petals have fallen on rose bush leaves;

another pair drifts to the waiting sidewalk,

drops in a slow pink shower—sun blooms through cloud

foliage, invisible moon at the root

2. waxing crescent

one cherry tree’s profile curves to the south, &

wind inclines its boughs more in that direction

in swoops & nods; one planet above the roof:

waxing moon reverses the cherry tree’s form

3. half moon

half a plastic Easter egg on a mown lawn,

two dandelion clocks by the brick edging,

marking their own time; uniform sky all day:

silver half moon atop its blue other half

4. waxing gibbous

white ball dribbled on concrete, bounced off the roof;

rumble of a prop plane’s flight west, just out of

reach; dozens of crows sail through a fading sky

southeast, the darker quadrant despite this moon

5. full moon

pine tree boughs with their freight of cones lead the gaze

upward past the intersection streetlight, white

eye watching one car, red rhododendrons,

that plane tree rocking the full moon in her arms

6. waning gibbous

resonance of the repeating train whistle

fills gray morning; black parking reflects green

cedars as they stand in this blank, liquid sky:

somewhere above the rain, the moon’s exhaling

7. last quarter

the dandelion growing under the blue

mail collection box has gone past, but the blue

bus will pull up at this stop any moment: blue

sky where the half moon sinks through clouds, reappears

8. waning crescent

three swifts darting above the rooftops: cursive

alphabet drawn against the sun then gone; from

this angle the power line's a silver thread:

daytime crescent erased in blue effulgence

Jack Hayes

© 2017