Judith Skillman
Can Believe In
Moon as goldfish, as moth, or milk.
Anything but this scorched pink candy
waxing from half to full to lie open-
eyed as a beetle. Moon as sun, kin,
mirror, omen. Or any deity
perched on high. Not this crawling across
terrain gone dull with smoke’s amnesia.
Noxious sky, how return the goose egg
stolen from a star that tried to teach
with tentacles of corona. Black spotted
moon, o moon-flower once borrowed,
now due to be returned. The earth burns
specious spectacles of humanity.
Judith Skillman is is the author of Premise of Light (Tebot Bach, 2018). Her poems have appeared in Shenandoah, Seneca Review, Cimarron Review, Zyzzyva, and other journals. She is the recipient of grants from Artist Trust and the Academy of American Poets. She is a faculty member at Richard Hugo House in Seattle, Washington.
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