Passager: “Midnight Under the Artificial Moon”

Published in Passager and featured in

“Burning Bright: Voices from Passager” podcast, December 13, 2022

https://www.passagerbooks.com/?s=midnight+under+the+artificial+moon

MIDNIGHT UNDER

THE ARTIFICIAL MOON A Chinese company has announced ambitious plans

to put a “fake moon” into space to brighten the night sky.

—BBC News online

Lovers will not pass under its gaze,

croon to its blue-ness, want to fly there.

Nor will this hanging lamp

enhance bonfires,

boardwalks, or dewy lawns.

No one will name it—Harvest

         Hunter’s

         Wolf

or praise the god within—

         Igaluk

         Mama Killa

         Napir

We remain fond of the waning crescent,

the waxing gibbous.

---

We find faces in deep

craters or imagine civilizations

thriving on its dark side.

We will tire of fluorescence—

glowering kitchen light.

This new ball of mirrors will follow us

home from work, glare into each window,

reverse the nocturnal to fractured sleep.