[No strawberry moon] by Emmy Pérez

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend October 14, 2016   [No strawberry moon]   Emmy Pérez

No strawberry moon for me, tonight. No strawberry moon. This small house creeks when I walk and open it. I have to weigh it, to goddess or not tonight. Goddess or godless. God is in my sleeping children's presence tonight. I use words like god when I haven't seen the strawberry moon, less when I haven't been so generous. It's not about gender—ess or less—but heft of the weight. Inside me like a baby. When people procreate. Romance a dashing thing. The harvest upon us. Will we feast or collapse in exhaustion tonight which is every?            Copyright © 2016 Emmy Pérez. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "I get giddy with each summer solstice, enjoy extraordinary and culturally insightful moon phases, and love the outdoors, though in recent years, many of my late nights are dedicated to helping my small children go to sleep and stay asleep, without tears or fears. Needless to say, this past June 20, I didn't step outside to see the full strawberry moon coinciding with the summer solstice, even though I wanted to and knew that the last rare appearance apparently occurred in 1967, the 'Summer of Love,' before I was born. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll get to see this rare moon-on-the-solstice when it next arrives in forty-six or so years." —Emmy Pérez   Emmy Pérez is the author of With the River on Our Face (University of Arizona Press, 2016). She teaches at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and lives in McAllen, Texas. Poetry by Pérez   With the River on Our Face (University of Arizona Press, 2016)  "There Is a Bird in My Mouth" by Natalie Scenters-Zapico "Anchorage" by Joy Harjo "Default Message" by Carmen Giménez Smith Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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