Waxing
The moon let out a sigh.
Again she had shone brightly
hundred-watt smile outshining Orion and his hounds.
And again, she felt, few perceived her.

People were so busy these nights
gazing at their own glowing screens.
Handheld satellites orbiting room to room,
gravitational force so strong they were seldom let go.
The moon wasn’t jealous. Although,
she could hardly keep from noticing people
looking skyward through lenses,
virtually viewing her in backlit rapture,
scrolling through snapshots of her uncapturable iridescence.

She had to remind herself
unlike this planned obsolescence,
lasting until the end of a battery-life,
her glow was a powerful forever.
She comforted herself, knowing she could co-exist
with the bright heat of day, incandescent white
popping against a pale blue sky
while plasma screens relied on shadow for their dim, synthetic beams.

After all, the thought occurred,
without her would be an end to rooftop lovemaking,
flannel blankets spread over sandpaper shingles under stars,
naked bodies howling like werewolves,
the crisp midnight air nipping their behinds.

If she got lazy, and decided not to show up, she reflected
the ocean would not rise, scattering sea-colored jellyfish along its shores,
No ultramarine beachglass outlining the edges of high tide,
a slow subsiding seaweed trail decorated by broken shells
and blue.

She was the constellation-framed centerpiece
allowing late-night strolls romance.
Illuminating the deep black hue of witching hour,
a lamp shining on an indigo wall.

She possessed the power to occasionally cover up the sun,
blazing ring of light suspended in the sky for an instant,
ten thousand pairs of tiny paper eyeglasses
gawking from below.

She remembered then
how tribes once gathered to worship her,
bringing drums and dancing in her honor,
leaving offerings of sweet fruit and honey.
And the two lovers in Calgary who, many years ago now,
had named their firstborn for her.
Smiling to herself, she recalled
the waning width of her shimmering crescent,
on the night that they first met.

Waxing
By Lark Omura