the obliquity of the elliptic

a found poem

The sky was nearly cloudless
Packed with celestial bodies
Smears of the Milky Way
And long scribbles of falling stars

A few conversations floated on the air
Two men swapped tales of the Southern Cross
A gray haired woman whispered intensely
A young couple kept silent
Nuzzling between the pines

The moon is a more complex creature
Than any planet or star in the sky

A tip of the silvery crescent
Appeared in the cleft between the spires
Inch[ing] into view
Like a moth emerging from a dark chrysalis

Coyotes began to yip and howl

[And then] fell silent
The moon disappeared
An ember dying

Strangely moving it was

To stand silently
With strangers
Gazing fixedly on the sky


Found in «Where the Moon Stood Still, and the Ancients Watched» in yesterday's New York Times -- a travel piece by Miriam Horn recounting the moonrise over Chimney Rock, Colorado, where every 18.6 years, from the mesa, the moon appears to rise directly between the two rock spires for several nights in a row.