Serious Moonlight
Serious moonlight fell brightly on the mountains tonight
Elegant moonlight fell loudly on the deer asleep in the yard
Broken moonlight fell splendidly on the swing set
Moody moonlight fell hard on the weedy pond
Pretty moonlight fell recklessly on the garden beds
Fierce moonlight fell thoughtfully on the recycling bins
Actual moonlight fell wildly on the coyotes falling on the rabbit
Personal moonlight fell purposely on my desk and books
Ancient moonlight fell perfectly on my bed sheets
Modern moonlight fell roughly scattering my thoughts awfully
Bowie died last night his exquisite alien soul has taken off
You are with another and I’m falling repeatedly
Shattered by this silently falling terrible moonlight
Copyright © 2016 by Camille Guthrie. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on March 21, 2016, by the Academy of American Poets.
“Where I live—in the country, on a hill overlooking farms and, into the distance, mountains—moonlight is an event. When David Bowie died, I realized that every time the full moon appears in the sky I think of his perfect description from ‘Let’s Dance.’ To appoint a true adjective to a thing as fundamental as the moon so impeccably is to alter reality.”
—Camille Guthrie
Camille Guthrie
Camille Guthrie is the author of Articulated Lair: Poems for Louise Bourgeois (Subpress, 2010).