Another Cycle of the Moon, poem by Christopher Reilley

Anoth­er month, rent is due,
bills on the first,
auto loan on the fifteenth,
four Sun­day dinners
and inter­est accrues.
The rit­u­al of mik­vah;
the Ortho­dox bath of family.
Wel­fare checks come due,
get your nails done, girl,
social secu­ri­ty pays out on the third,
pen­sions and fis­cal reports
are gen­er­at­ed yet again.

One cycle of the moon,
from wax­ing to waning
back to waxing,
full and whole, round and bright
then
a cres­cent blade poised
to bleed the sky.
Ebb and flow of tides
ebb and flow of Woman
push and pull of those below,
they are not called lunatics for nothing.
The moon
pulls at us
then releas­es us once more,
toy­ing with us
its cratered eyes
watch­ing us dance to its rhythms.

Ancient mar­rieds drank hon­ey wine
for a cycle of the moon
after their union night,
hence the honeymoon.
A white hare who lives there
guides the Chi­nese to celebrate.
Amer­i­can Indi­ans sang of Tortoise
who holds the waters in check.
Authors have writ­ten of the moon's majesties–
Hale, Maugh­am, Roth, and London
inspired by its cold blue reflect­ed light

And the calendar–

Tick­ing off our lives,
one by one,
month by month,
named for gods,
clock­ing our spans,
turn­ing the Great Wheel

one step closer.

Christo­pher Reil­ley is the cur­rent poet lau­re­ate for Ded­ham, MA. A Push­cart nom­i­nee, he is the author of the chap­book 'Grief Tat­toos,' and the full length col­lec­tion 'Breath­ing For Clouds,' both avail­able from Ama­zon. He has con­tributed to a wide vari­ety of antholo­gies and col­lec­tions, his poems appear­ing in the Boston Lit­er­ary Mag­a­zine, Word Sal­ad, Raga­muf­fin, Raven's Desk and many oth­ers. He is a board mem­ber for the New­ton Writ­ing and Pub­lish­ing Cen­ter, as well as con­tribut­ing edi­tor to Acoustic Ink. His poems can be found at chris​reil​ley​po​ems​.blogspot​.com.