Did men really walk on that?
It looks too pale and flimsy
at nine in the morning
a ghost of itself
that clouds could pass through
not strong enough to bear
the weight of history
something the night
had left behind
& forgotten
Up Late
John Malone
what lies within: the weird, the wacky, the wonderful: writings
Oh I really like that one!! So many lovely ideas!
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thank you ; it’s funny when I first wrote the poem over fifteen years back I read it to my son, the daylight moon at his back, who puzzled over it at first until I read it again and it clicked 🙂 perhaps it is tricky without the picture
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Yes. That’s interesting. I wonder if I would’ve got it without the surrounding context. 🤔🙂
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hard to say; there are clues there but without the picture you’d puzzle a bit ; it was published twice in a children’s magazine but with an image of a daylight moon; tricky 🙂
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Lovely, and the perfect ethereal, barely-there picture as well.
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thanks, Matthew: that’s a great description of my poem 🙂
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The weight of history- perfect
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yes, that’s my favourite line too; it anchors the poem 🙂
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Something the night has left behind and forgotten….. love that closing line. I like this poem. I’ve always loved the morning moon myself.
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thank you; I’ve written a series of moon poems: I may put up more during January seeing this one struck a chord with readers
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Please do.
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I’ve got an Easter-themed one that I’ve set aside for Good Friday: not too many moons away 🙂
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I saw a moon almost like that this morning.
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I don’t think many notice, unless it’s a blood-red or super moon
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I love this! So interesting to read a poem about the pale moon of the morning. I feel like most poems are about the big solid moon of the night; and I love your take
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thanks: it’s the neglected, overlooked things that interest me like red pencil sharpeners and daylight moons 🙂
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It’s all been said already. Great poem John!
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I wrote this many moons ago so it was time for it to see the light of day again 🙂
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Glad that it did!
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Love this!
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good to hear from you, Bob; I was going to do the dark side of the moon but Pink Floyd got in first 🙂
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The moon like a tissue pulled out of a stuffed bra, a receipt with a stain of bourbon, a gnawed on coaster from the local dive.
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terrific stuff ; you have what it takes !!
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I’ve been resisting being a poet for a long time; probably ‘cause it doesn’t pay minimum wage, but that’s very kind. I think you have the “it” factor.
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you can use your poetic power to write short stories of shimmering power 🙂 I’m just reading in ‘The New Yorker’ a short story by a poet who has just had her debut story collection published; it is not my forte but it may be yours 🙂
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Thank you. I’m trying. I’ve been sending a few of my favorites out into the big ocean, but so far no takers, a few nibbles. I’m but sure I have the patience to wait six months to be told no there’s bigger story fish in the sea 😉 Might not be my forte either
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what you do is write a number of stories, send one to one outlet, another to another magazine, and so on and while you are waiting for responses you keep on writing stories, submitting them to magazines; eventually you will get an acceptance, then another and another …. but remember you must read stories too, widely 🙂
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That sounds very efficient, but I’m going to keep at it. Pull on my big girl writing pants and punch the keys. Poetry is just so much more alluring. It’s like finger painting instead of sculpting. Truly good advice, John. Thank you. It’s been a while since I read some great stories.
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when you got time, look up ‘How To Pronounce Knife’ on the Amazon website; the story is free: it’s like a poem: gorgeous: you could write something like that 🙂
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Bookmarking now for my afternoon tea~that’s reading time for me.
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Sorry for typos. Fingers must be telling me it’s time for bed.
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Night, John. Thanks for meeting me in the blogosphere for a chat. You can always tell me to bugger off if I’m bothering you. 😉
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no; it’s alright; other writers have helped me, so I’m passing on what I’ve learnt; have a good night 🙂
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I really appreciate it. Thank you. Realized my metaphors last night may make it seem like I find poetry less serious, but that’s really not true. To me, poetry is hands-on, fun, and expressive and most of all full-filling. The stories are more like work. 🙂
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wow! did you see you’ve got 29 comments !!! for ‘Quadrille’ ; that is awesome 🙂
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d’verse has this Mr Linky for their poetry events. Have you seen this? You post your link, and they really come out to view. It’s nice. You should join them sometime. They’d love your style. https://dversepoets.com/
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okay, will look it up; thanks 🙂
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I’m always happy to help with the linking stuff, too. Can be a headache, but I learned to do it quickly teaching for so long. 🙂
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