{"id":187,"date":"2013-08-15T22:03:12","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T22:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=187"},"modified":"2014-01-17T05:07:48","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T05:07:48","slug":"circles-of-the-moon-other-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=187","title":{"rendered":"CIRCLES OF THE MOON &#038;  Other Poems  &#8211; MJM LaBare"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>To Alex, on turning two<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Some say the Ring of Brogar<br \/>\nis the Circle of the Moon.<br \/>\nThere is no proof.<br \/>\nIts stones stand<br \/>\na mystery<br \/>\nof five millenia<br \/>\non a length of land<br \/>\nlapped by freshwater<br \/>\nand by saltwater,<br \/>\nset in the songs<br \/>\nof skuas and shags<br \/>\nand the silent legacies<br \/>\nof ancient ceremonies&#8211;<br \/>\nlikely akin<br \/>\nto what your daddy does<br \/>\non East 70th Street<br \/>\nwhen at eventide<br \/>\nyou direct<br \/>\nin single syllables:<br \/>\n&#8220;Roof!&#8221; and &#8220;Moon!&#8221; &#8212;<br \/>\nand up there<br \/>\nare lifted so<br \/>\nyour rounded reach<br \/>\nextends forever<br \/>\nas you say,<br \/>\n&#8220;Hug the moon!<br \/>\nHug the moon!&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"tmnf-sc-divider\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>BEFORE THEY ALMOST BROKE UP<\/strong><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>They searched for lost or imagined riches:<br \/>\nthe Lost Chinaman in Death Valley,<br \/>\nthe Lost Chicken Craw in Nevada,<br \/>\nin Arizona, the Lost Dutchman<br \/>\nand the Lost Treasure of Cochise.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The sun bleached the air and them<br \/>\nand paled the life they\u2019d left<br \/>\nbehind on an urban isle.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The new green was<br \/>\nthe dull color of a saguaro,<br \/>\nribs flexible as whalebone,<br \/>\nhard enough to blunt<br \/>\na keen blade.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sunwashed, they aged,<br \/>\nwatched shade grow long<br \/>\nand lure sleeping creatures<br \/>\nto life:<br \/>\na jack rabbit<br \/>\ncooling through thin, huge ears,<br \/>\na \u2018roo rat pivoting in midair.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One night they near drowned<br \/>\nin the richness of light,<br \/>\nevening\u2019s heat so sear<br \/>\nthey could hear it.<br \/>\nRays bent from one<br \/>\nairy layer to another.<br \/>\nBoulders shimmered<br \/>\ninsubstantial.<br \/>\nJust breathing made<br \/>\nthem thirsty.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When sandstorms and love<br \/>\nreduced visibility<br \/>\nto zero, erased<br \/>\ntheir separate footprints,<br \/>\nthey learned to move through<br \/>\nshadows, watch silently<br \/>\nthe vermillion sunset.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thunderheads bit the sky,<br \/>\nlightning stabbed heaven<br \/>\nand earth,<br \/>\nbut rain never came.<br \/>\nA breeze carried fragrances<br \/>\nof flowers never found.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From their last fire, sparks<br \/>\nlept from the saguaro skeleton<br \/>\ninto the partial darkness.<br \/>\nStars reigned, cast shadows.<br \/>\nThere was no more wind.<br \/>\nMoisture condensed in<br \/>\ntheir close footprints \u2013<br \/>\nseedlings could take root there<br \/>\nin the brittle peace.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>They took pictures of the little pools<br \/>\nand of the ranger\u2019s sign:<br \/>\n\u201cDo Not Disturb<br \/>\nPetrified Wood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>MJM LaBare is a poet and educator.  She teaches at Bloomfield College, lives in Brooklyn, NY and travels extensively.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To Alex, on turning two Some say the Ring of Brogar is the Circle of the Moon. There is no proof. Its stones stand a mystery of five millenia on a length of land lapped by freshwater and by saltwater, set in the songs of skuas and shags and the silent legacies of ancient ceremonies&#8211; [&#038;hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-photographer-little-new-york","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1568,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/1568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}