01 January, 2010

Blue Moon

Winter Arrives, a Full Blue Moon

A new year, a new decade has been born. Janus, the two faced Roman God has taken his place in the calendar. Janus, more like the bright and Mercurial Gemini twins than the stolid, Satrunalian Capricorn is one of those astrological oddities.

The New Year arrived with an astronomical phenomenon, the second full moon within a monthly cycle. It is a Blue Moon. And this Blue Moon is nestled into its astrological home, the sign of Cancer.

Winter has arrived, cold and sharp. Looks to be a tough one. There has been snow on the ground in the shadows since mid-October.

Brings to mind a poem I wrote some 15 years ago:




One Coyote on Ice

January aires whip southward.
Bundled tight to muffle
Against a Canada born wind
My steps whip along a frozen path.

Out of the cattail camouflage
Coyote trots easy, confident
‘Cross cold locked water.
Head down, hunting nose intent
Following scent.
Worried ducks rasp alarm,
Rise in raucous flight.
He stops, on his haunches drops
Watching dinner disappear.

One furtive glance at me,
One flick of a bushy tail,
He rests alone, sure of life,
One coyote on ice.

3 comments:

  1. Belated Happy New Year, Sven, beautiful poem. "Sure of life," ah. I live in NH and we have a half-acre pond in our backyard. I have observed (because of their prints in snow) that coyote and fox will cross the pond but deer never will. I see your tea party badge and want you to know that it's alive tonight, tomorrow, here in New England, at the Mass senate special election. That's what I call hope.

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  2. Amy,
    Thanks for stopping by and the comments.

    "Live Free of Die!"

    I dated a gal from New Hampshire. She and I taught together at a private school. There is a poem dedicated to her...somewhere in the archives. I will see if I can find it and share it with you.

    I am comforted by your response. We all are watching the Massechusetts senate race closely.

    The tide is changing.

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  3. Brown won! It was BEAUTIFUL. What a historic vote. It's Waterloo for the worst of the Obama agenda, I believe. I visited a small borrowed office in Newburyport, MA where Brown volunteers who mostly met during a March tea party were working together to make phone calls and coordinate sign holding. This sort of engagement by regular folks in the political process (the way it used to be in New England and America) may be becoming a habit once again. Took some photos in the snow too, posted on my blog.

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