AUBADE
8
Morning mist kisses
the slow wakening
shore, dreams skittering
wet sand, flittering
in and out
of sea murmur
until the sun
bounces itself up
from the gray
stoop of horizon
and the day,
aroused, kisses back.
*
*
STURGEON MOON
8
The August supermoon
is the Sturgeon Moon
named by the Algonquins
after the fish
grandmother brought back
from her monthly forays
into New York, thin slices
of white flesh packed in
wax paper, our faces
eager as Gibbous moons
as she tore small pieces
off the first exposed slice
and beaming her great
smile, handed them to us
a kind of piscine sacrament –
succulent, tender and ethereal
*
*
Paul Genega has published six full-length collections, including Outtakes: New and Selected Poems from Salmon Poetry in 2023. His work has appeared most recently in This Broken Shore and Orbis (UK). His honors include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the “Discovery” Award.
