Poetry for the Esbat: Two Moon, Not So Blue (May 2016)

XVIII, The Moon.
From The Lover's Tarot Deck by Jane Lyle. 

Given my need to make up the difference this Esbat, it would be cleverly apropos if this coming Full Moon was indeed Blue, but it really isn't exactly. 

However, I will still make my amends this month by including the poetry I had planned for last month's Esbat. This time, it's a "two-fer."

Many people-projects & collaborations have swirled around & about, unfurled their fronds & closed up shop in recent months. As I prepare to migrate once again, I breathe a sigh of relief. I yearn for the quiet stillness of the slumbering Desert, the Sunrise ritual of incense & coffee with Breakfast Canyon, the soft Darkness of Night's starry cloak & of course, eye contact with The Moon. 

This should be a good time to reflect upon lessons. Lessons learned.  Lessons observed. Lessons digesting. People critters, they are a curious lot. Sometimes it is a very good thing to step away from the fray & regain the Outsider's perspective.

◦◦◦

The poetry for this Esbat (& last) is about people-lessons. These poems can be understood in many ways, upon many layers, from many perspectives. Read & think. Think & read. Nothing is ever really as clear cut as we might prefer. Everything is an onion.

And the Moon. Here, the Moon, She is the Teacher, the Initiator, the Instigator, not necessarily the distant (or close), cool (or warm), Object-of-Reverence as in so many of the devotional poems. But, I like this side of Her. 

Last month's poem I snatched from the Evolver Social Movement's feed. Unfortunately, there isn't any credit information for this piece & it has now become something of an internet meme, making it even more difficult to track it's author... but isn't that just the way of people critters? Lost sources aside, I cannot succinctly express all the layers of Life that I have discovered in this short piece, but I will say I have not yet stopped peeling away at it. 

"You lost her... (to) dimly lit stars." Credit unknown.

The poetry for this month's Full Moon has explicit source credit -- something I really dig. It also seems to demand that it be revisited repeatedly over a long period time. I have considering it for about a year now. I am not done. This piece from Rumi comes from a rare publication housed at Utah's Marriot Library. (Isn't that just keen how the departure poetry matches the destination?):

"NEW RULE: A POEM BY RUMI
Sibyl Rubottom and Jim Machacek
San Diego, CA: Bay Park Press, 2000
N7433.4 R73 N49 2000
A flecked, navy wrapper is folded in three, housing the primary sheet which is, in turn, folded into three, unequal sections. Letterpress from Bodoni and Times Roman on Fabriano Rosaspina Bianco and Fox River Confetti wrapper. Images created using polymer plates, monotypes, linocut, and screen printing. Edition of forty-five copies. University of Utah copy is no. 19."

New Rule: A Poem By Rumi, illustrated by Sibyl Rubottom and Jim Machacek. 

Blessings to you this Esbat, my friends.