Snakes On The Moon
for D.V.H.

i.
weight of the moon,
moon in darkness, in dark sky

moon in the sea, falls with a splash

bubbles, balloons, float into air, in the air
air in bubbles, in balloons

air outside as well as inside

ii.
“I have seen strokes of words on a page,”
she said

iii.
what are you unsaying when you say
undoing when you do

when conceived, when you come into being

the weight of your being is balanced
against all of the rest of creation

iv.
why are they drawn to the moon
gone or going to the moon

lizards, snakes, salamanders

two worms worming their way
through the night, towards the light

moonshine drunk them, to drunk us all

moon struck artist, moon struck us

softly enough nightly
to put us to sleep, to put us to bed

v.
moon themes, moon beams, moon things

woman of moons, of moans
groans sometimes in pain
at times for pleasure

moon song, moan songs
expert at this, at these

with the moon, she teases us
laughs at us in the moon light

as long as the moon lasts
until it fades away

the sun, the moon though,
always there, always here

as present always as the earth we’re on

vi.
sperm cells race
two in the lead, in the picture

one, probably blind, with eyes wide
swimming right by
the big bright egg, the big bright moon

about to miss out on an opportunity
to, at the end of this race,
enter the human race

or that or whatever organism
fired this shot off

vii.
how dare you, how daring of you
to make such a simplistic remark

such simple marks and leave them there
leave them here for us to live with,
to marvel at

what will the future make
of what we did with the present

we must leave presents
to be unwrapped, unraveled later


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
Written between 6:20 p.m.
and 9:10 p.m., Thursday,
October 29th 2009