SkyView
Donna Pucciani
The radio reports tonight that
Jupiter and Venus will appear
to the right of a three-quarter moon
like little echoes from a big drum,
or crumbs of cheese on the dark
platter of
My mother told me about green cheese,
and I would stare at the pockmarked face
lit by earth’s private, immense star
and stick out my tongue to lick it.
If I got lucky, I tasted fall in the air
when the moon was cheddar-gold,
or raindrops in spring, when pear blossoms
camouflaged a confetti sky. But now,
Jupiter’s white, starched bib is ready
for champagne, and the breast of Venus
escapes from the folds of her black crepe,
seducing lunar light. Holding the moon
at arm’s length, two planets burn
on velvet wicks, just far enough away
from a globed lunar god
to escape death by brilliance.
Donna Pucciani has
published in The Pedestal,