Tonight, under full moon – the worm moon –
I watch fireworks over Lake Crescent, ascend
in silence save for the hiss of speed that lifts them
high into a cloudless sky painted black clay

sky rockets, mortars, and aerial shells,
blast and report to scare away
the evil spirits among us

powdery stars of the same elements we are,
calcium, sodium, potassium,
cesium, antimony – to name a few –
burn to glow orange, gold, violet,
white, silver, and indigo – among many

tracing the heavens in
peonies, horsetails,
kamuros and willows

accents of apostrophes
of titanium blue sparks

at the end leave tendrils of smoke
filigree under worm moonlight
at human scale so high

so distant from the edge

I feel the curve of the earth,
actually I see it – can sense that
we’re falling

But I really wanted to tell you about
how big and small I feel
both at one time

celebratory
here under the light
of our neighbor courtesy
of our sun

tucked away in this corner
of creation, constrained
to this perimeter I can fathom

a place I call home

Chagall 2018