Tonight, the sky is heavy with light,

a copper globe rising over the trees,

its edges softened by the chill.

Silent as the woods wait below,

and in the distance, shadows stretch,

elongated whispers of the day.

The moon calls to those who listen,

its pale voice echoing through the branches,

reminding us of what is hunted,

and what is lost.

The earth holds its breath.

Leaves rustle in the wind's slow sigh,

a heartbeat shared between the stars

and the creatures that walk beneath.

The night is not still—

it pulses, it watches, it remembers.

A reminder,

of seasons turning and the wild within us

that never sleeps.

Fated lovers pause

’Midst moonlight's painted glow -

Star scattered skies and

Dual moons mirrored,

Hunting twin souls afar -

Two hearts, one beat -

Over deserts and destined pathways,

Mountains, seas, and skies,

Submitting to the moon's direction

Draped in love's fateful guise.

As though entwined, two hearts

Leap to the beckoned echoes

Of a hunter's moonlight,

Quivering, glowing, gleaming

As flower petals fall,

Stretching far over skies

That seek only to divide.

Twin souls and twin hearts

Find the intersecting solace,

Crisscrossing and aligning

'Neath one fated moon,

As they answer love's

Destined, gallant call.

Cynthia Calder, 10.17.24

Even if obscured by overcast weather,

the Hunter’s Moon

still radiates.

It maintains a steadfast presence

until the building clouds, as they always do,

are dispersed by the wind.

Then the night sky is illuminated once more

so those fortunate enough to look up

will be in awe.

Ignore outside forces

attempting

to lessen your uniqueness.

Reject negativity,

both external and internal,

that questions your worth.

Share what you have to offer

to shine on others,

like a Hunter’s Moon.

October was her

only sky

oh,

the most

beautiful moon

she had

ever

seen

D.L

The light of the hunter’s moon is heavy and hard,

The folk in the fields fall fallow and sleep,

A deepness; a darkness within draws me down.

A seeping wretched soul, I feel. I seem. I am.

I sing great ballads of pain, belting out my bitter strife.

A knife-keen cut swells, to knot in my chest.

My blood bleeds thick, as sap from thick-skinned bark.

As the hunter’s hard moon shines and holds my heart.

I do not howl; I dream for those who died.

I cannot weep aloud, for wakeful eyes will know.

And those who sleep would see my soul stripped bare.

The shamble of a sodden man, his shame in hunter’s light.

All the World

is stranger

to me

in bed

with temperature

as the Earth turns

molten

on its axis

I on mine

and gravity of the situation

stands reason on its head

all of us at some point

upside down

my night clock

meter rises

and I reload

for harvesttime

the ground's lit

up in prowl

for a Hunter like I

in shadow rifling

I gather my skin

at town center

it will make

fine

return

of pellets...

pelt for pelts

for pell...

Thus satisfied

I settle to sleep

at the crack of day light

10.25.2024

The Hunter's Moon challenge @CKMunsell

all our life

gathered up

grain by grain

every year

as many

notice then

we grow old

and hungry

grain by grain

our moonshine

distills 'gainst

dry rice blades

all our life

glanced back

grain by grain

white pebble

on the path

flowered now

2024 OCT 28

Hunter’s moon, like most full moons

Goes unseen by me, asleep in my bed by nightfall

Mom says I was born under a harvest moon, a full moon

The fullest moon, considering the word harvest has meaning

Northern hemisphere folks fill our bellies as the moon fills the tides

Pulling the ocean as always, in and out like inhales and exhales

Like the ocean itself breathes, the moon inflating and deflating lungs

Which evolved from swim bladders, gills, fish with names mimicking our organs

from that salty sea the moon controls. The moon controls outside

Whereas inside, I sleep, dreaming occasionally, elsewhere and

Outside of the control of this hunter moon’s gravitational pull.

Milky fingernail

It peeps over the horizon

Then rises boldly

Into the darkening sky

Driving the sun

Off the western edge

And replacing the golden rays

With opalescent gleam

Her cool light shines

Moonbeams dance on water

And cast deep shadows

As creatures scuffle under bushes

Searching for their prey

Oft shrouded in dark clouds

Her glow then muted

Yellowed, greyed

Made yet more milky

'Til she emerges again

She brings the tides

Which surge upon the shores

Makes dogs howl

And nervous birds flutter

Even lonely people

Mutter to themselves

Their eyes smudged

By restless nights

Bathed in pearly light

Her power is more subtle

Her hand more deft

And yet she is formidable

She will not burn you

Nor cause your eyes to squint

But she will send you disquieting dreams

And buzzing insects

And yowling cats

And gooseflesh on your skin

When the round moon sashays across the sky

Then gentle creatures must hide

For predators stalk in every shadow

Hungry for their supper

Teeth sharpened for the kill

Mouths salivating

Eyes alert and ears pricked

Waiting and coiled

To pounce on their prey

Be it leathery bats

Or silent, taloned owls

Spiders with sticky webs

A snake on a summer's night

A patient black cat

A man with ill-intent

A cunning, smiling fox

All have come to kill

To net their trophy

She dances across the sky

A round, glowing orb

Beautiful and dangerous

Aloof of all the destruction

That trails in her wake

The moon

Do the crickets ever sing to you

When the moon drifts so close

The eye of early autumn

A hand come to steady the sky

While you walk along the road

The trees will whisper of the beasts beneath

The coyotes howl while they prey

The owls quietly search for mice

In the shifting underbrush

The wind will bequeath upon you

A mantle of echoes and halves

Filling you with the Earth's breath

While your feet yearn to carry you

Deep into the woods

The leaves will twirl down

In a colorful cascade

Ornamenting nature's fragrant revelry

While the Hunter's moon yellows

And fills the evening sky

The wild becomes so full of life

At the taste of winter's tread