Number 9, Number 9, Number 9

SAW THE MOON

I saw the moon this morning
I really saw the moon
turns out prescription goggles
were a fine idea
for in the outdoor pool
at the health reclamation center
in that hour before dawn,
the astronomy rivals
the rhythm of the thirteen strokes
on one held breath
and the roll over
to take in the moon, our moon,
in waning gibbous phase,
just two days past its fullness—
like an encore or
a party winding down
and Mars glowed too
at perigee this week
as close as it can be
to you and to me, in my pool, belly up
I paused to float, motionless,
for just a moment
and I'm sure I felt the moon pulling on me
just a little bit…
when the outdoor speakers erupted—
a diligent employee
had turned on the music service for the day—
somewhere, someone was making John Kay
sing Born to Be Wild all over again and
it was just so wrong it made me laugh as
I considered that he must be 63 by now—
shouldn't he get to sing a song about
his porch and dog instead?
And the magic that had been in the air was gone
but it did not matter—
the sun was coming up,
I could just begin to see the
first oaks on brown hills
and it would be a good day.

--Mark Trail


Well, this blog has really taken off. Nine issues in and it gets as much traffic as a crossroads in the Antarctic. True, I haven’t done much to publicize it. I haven’t done all the things that one must do in order to boost one’s hits. And I don’t mean by ticking off the local crime boss, either. I mean visiting every idiot blog you can find to leave moronic comments, linking to the other idiot blogs in the hope that they will link back to your idiot blog, getting it mentioned on “Conan O’Brien.”

No, I’ve done none of these things and still I’m disappointed. Ah! Human nature!

--LJC

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN (REVISED)

God save our gracious Queen.
She uses Afro-Sheen
Upon her head.
Her hair will never nap,
Not even in a cap.
So, everybody shut their trap.
God save our Queen.

--LJC