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