Skiing by Moonlight
by Sandra Alcosser
Gray cloud like a sweater pulled over the heart of the moon.
High-napped purple sky. Why are so many friends
Leaving or getting left behind?
Mao’s anti-sparrow campaign: to kill and eat the birds
That were eating the grain. Winter sun drifts away
Leaving thin taffy light. Venus Mercury Jupiter—
Three pearls in the morning sky. By thinking herself
Invisible, the fox walks over hoarfrost not breaking
Morning’s delicate lace. Leaving no trace. Lace is beautiful
Because of absence, the place that lets the light through,
Gives it strength. Mother Teresa in the hospital
Watches the annular eclipse. Once every twenty thousand years—
A portion of the sun visible as a ring surrounding the dark moon.
The doctor tells her—protect yourself, hold an x-ray of your lungs
Up to the window, let only the waning light pass through.
Fast trail down the mountain –10 degrees. Starving vole
Tracks ornate Victorian filigree. What is the bearing weight
Of an ice crystal? Why will a person freezing to death
Inch into the false warmth of the moon? Eros is the wound.
White will go to shadblow. White will go to orchid bloom.
Except by nature—as a woman, I will be ungovernable.
Found on-line
at Ploughshares.
Click
here.
Last winter, I skiied several times at night
