Kindly Moon

At twilight, there she is, 
an old friend rising
                                  in the east 
                     and setting 
       in the west,
above fields shorn with harvest.

She’s on the look-out for geese 
       complaining after 
thousands of miles
flight. 

       And she smiles,
this kindly moon, 
                      as they cross her face,
knowing they have 
                      no perception of space,
just a birds-eye
 
                      view of Mother Earth,
the planet of their birth.

Kim M. Russell, 18th October 2022

Descending Geese and Full Moon by Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)

It’s Tuesday Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub and Sarah is our host with October mooniness. Yes, we are thinking about the October full moon and taking inspiration from the different names it’s been given in different places.

Sarah says that the best-known names probably come from the Native American tribal traditions: Travellers Moon, Blackberry Moon. For the Siouan it’s the Gopher Looks Back Moon, and for the Inuit it’s the Ice Moon, while here in the UK it’s the Hunter’s Moon. For our Celtic ancestors, it would have been the Hunter’s Moon, Blood Moon or the Seed Fall Moon. In the Ogham calendar, it would be the Moon in Ivy, and for the Chinese – my favourite – it’s the Kindly Moon.

Sarah would like us to choose one of these moon names, and write a moony poem inspired by it. She has given us an example: ‘Hunter’s Moon’ by Ansel Elkins.

37 thoughts on “Kindly Moon”

    1. Thank you, Sarah. It’s just what I needed, as I’ve been so anxious about Ellen. I’m supposed to be going down for a week’s visit on Sunday, I haven’t seen them since before Christmas, and she is heavily pregnant, with lots of problems, and they want to take her in but haven’t told her when. I’m so worried about her and the baby. And we’ve had lots of geese passing by lately, which might be a good omen.

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  3. This is gorgeously rendered, Kim! 😍😍 I especially love this part; “She’s on the look-out for geese complaining after thousands of miles flight.” ❤❤

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    1. Thank you, Sanaa! For the past couple of nights, hundreds of geese have flown across the sky at sunset – we saw them through our window – and the sound of them honking and cackling was just wonderful!

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  8. I agree, this is a lovely gentle poem. I especially like the second half, the ‘face’ and ‘space’ lines. The rhyme, the line breaks give it a flow, not unlike the flight of the geese.
    I hope your daughter is close to the hospital. Thinking of you.

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    1. Thank you so much, Merril.
      Ellen hasn’t had a date for the c-section yet, but I will go down anyway on Sunday, to help look after Lucas over half term and be there in case she needs to go into hospital. I won’t be taking part in dVerse prompts next week but will be back the following Monday.

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