Hunter's Moon

A Hunter's Moon

Is a Mourner's Moon,

Becomes

Celestial cabochon

Tonight:

Amber-hued

And crowded 

With inclusions

Of lost beings--

Each enchambered

As if

In honeyed resin--

Guam's flying fox,

Hunted to oblivion

During war,

Its whistle-thin

Wing spars

Are preserved 

In Tycho's ejecta

Radiant across

Luna hemisphere.

Barbary Lion's

Dark mane

Is silhouetted

On moon's mid-section

As Mare Vaporium;

Sea of Vapors.

The big cat pursued

By sultans was finally

Vanquished

When Algerian forests

Were decimated in war.

Baiji dolphin, palest blue,

Sonared through estuaries,

Ceased to be venerated

As riverine goddess,

Was destroyed in bycatch.

Cetacean skims lunar rilles,

Leaves hint of dorsal fin.

A Hunter's Moon

Is a Mourner's Moon,

Becomes

Celestial cabochon 

Tonight:

Amber-hued

And crowded

With inclusions

Of lost beings--

Rub this orb

With silk;

It will make your hair

Stand on end.

Laura Stickney 2024

Notes:

Hunter's Moon--October's Full Moon.

cabochon--a rounded

gemstone.

amber--a translucent, 

red-orange fossilized tree resin.

inclusions--bits enclosed

within the mass of a mineral.

Tycho--lunar impact crater on

the moon.

Ejecta--material thrown out

from meteoritic impact.

Bycatch--The incidental capture of

non-target species during fishing.

cetacean--dolphin

rilles--trenches on surface 

of moon.

photo of Hunter's Moon from Earth.com

photo of amber cabochon from Rio Grande jewelry