blacker night

"At an indefinite height overhead something made the sky blacker, which had the semblance of a vast architrave uniting the pillars horizontally." ~Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Ubervilles

 

from where i sit
in this sleepy little town,
sitting in the rocker
your mother found for me
at a neighborhood yard sale

now weatherworn
its seat almost gone

from where i sit
the night sky is
black as onyx
darker than any sky
i've ever known
in spite of streetlamps
and a fogged-over half-moon

we have sat on this porch
mesmorized by stars
and theorized together
for more than decade
is it the salt ocean
perfect altitude
daily-washed air

from where i sit
if i fix my eyes just so
i can see not only
dippers and twins
but distant galaxies
in clouds of light
infinite, infinite

sitting here rocking
thinking about a poem
about how much blacker
the night sky is in astoria
a shooting star roars
in front of me
big as a comet

 

and i think
what kismet
in spite of the enormity
of the universe
and my seedling desire
to write a poem

in memoriam