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Tiger Moon

Tiger Moon
a poem by Kaitlyn Fa

summer mornings

a cicada orchestra playing their repertoire of

Ralph Vaughn Williams

with a barbershop quartet of frogs

bellowing out their croony love songs

the scent of wilting flowers

petals cracking, shattering

under the slightest brush of

the wind’s hand


and a moon

a persistent moon

a silver pupil in a

brilliantly blue-jay iris

a piercing moon

beautiful Selene and lovely Chang’e

she wanders to places where

she should not

observes domains where

she should not stay


in the sun’s domain,

violent sun

piercing sun

blinding sun,

her radiance does not fade

she stands on her own

how i would like to stand with her

and bask in her shimmering power

all the more so when

she persists in the day


tiger moon

i squint my eyes to see her stripes

well-earned

i open my eyes again and they

disappear

but i don’t forget what i’ve seen

tiger moon

claws hidden under your

veil of snow-like purity

a hunter’s instinct where

prey abounded before

tiger moon

warrior in the sky


Poet’s note: A few years ago, I realized that you could occasionally still see the moon in the morning, even when the sun was rising into the air. This poem is based on my appreciation of the moon for persisting, so clearly, even in a sky which it does not “belong” to.



Cover Photo Source: Fine Art America

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