MR. PALOMAR LOOKS AT THE MOON
BY DL SMITH
Nobody looks at the moon in the afternoon,
and this is the moment when it would most
require our attention, since its existence
is still in doubt.
Italo Calvino
The moon is lost is the afternoon;
Just a subtle shift of shade
Slowly strolling across the sky.
Its glory dims, a faded seraphim
Hanging heavy in the heavens,
Hoary and hidden amongst the host.
It casts its light into a greater current,
An eddy of energy
dissolving
Into a big bright blue expanse,
But existence is defined by its edges.
Only contrast gives reality its shape.
The painter, potter, and politician
Know perception is conception.
The moon is lost in the afternoon,
But daylight darkens with the sun's declension;
A bone deep bruise decaying into dusk.
Depressed, the somnolent sun sinks down to rest,
Draping the world in bleak black blankets of night
That burnish and bedeck the moon with vibrant light.
The moon becomes a spotlight
Beaming
down on a silent stage,
Silhouetting a soliloquy delivered to the world.
[A hush falls over the audience.]
Juxtaposition always illuminates.
Without darkness, there can be no light.
Hope operates on this same principle. | DLS