This is the Moon I was Born Under

‘This is the moon I was born under’ was the writing prompt for one of the exercises at our PenPals writing group last meeting. I struggled a bit with it at first: couldn’t think what to write. I had previously written a few ‘moon’ poems, but couldn’t think of anything original or worth reproducing using that particular prompt.

However, one of our members came up with some great research about the moon.

For instance, I didn’t know before, that the astronomical phenomenon of a second full moon in a single calendar month, which happens every two to three years, is called a ‘blue moon’. This happens because, in the widely used Gregorian calendar, there are 12 months in a year, and normally there is one full moon each month, but each calendar year contains roughly 11 days more than the number of days in 12 lunar cycles. The extra days accumulate, so every two or three years there is an extra full moon. The extra moon necessarily falls in one of the four seasons, giving that season four full moons instead of the usual three, and, hence, a blue moon.

Due to the rarity of a blue moon, the term “blue moon” is used colloquially to mean a rare event, as in the phrase “once in a blue moon”, although the original term had nothing to do with the actual colour of the moon. 

However, a literally “blue moon” (the moon appearing with a tinge of blue) may occur in certain atmospheric conditions, e.g. volcanic eruptions, and exceptionally large fires can leave particles in the atmosphere. Since this is, if anything, even rarer than the extra full moon, it adds to the appropriateness of the phrase.

image from http://within-my-eyes.blogspot.com and info from Wikipedia

There! Now isn’t that interesting?

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Another of our PenPal members, Sharon Scordecchia, remembered something she had read about the moon, and used that as her inspiration, and that is what I decided to post today.

You may remember Sharon also wrote the piece, ‘Her Need to Write’ that I posted on this blog on April 29th. That piece can also be found under ‘Fireside Chats’ on the menu bar at the top of this page.

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This is the Moon I was Born Under

by

Sharon Scordecchia

The January 2013 issue of National Geographic carried an article entitled, “Heading off to the Stars.”  It referred to the very real ambitions of a company backed by billionaire investors to mine asteroids for precious metals. Towards the end of the article a NASA physicist outlines a possible future for our world. His words, “mining the moon,” stuck with me and inspired this piece. Sharon. 

THIS IS THE MOON I WAS BORN UNDER

What have they done to you?

Muddied your iridescence

And I stood by. . .

As they dug down so deep

I let it happen. . .

As they detonated your Sea of Tranquility

 Plundered your priceless treasure

Smeared you thick with mineral blood

I didn’t jump up and down

Or scream and shout

Or sign a petition . . .

Did nobody save you?

Did we all turn our back?

As they put out your light

I didn’t cry out

I thought they would know

Surely they knew . . .

Or had they forgot

Just this

One Simple Fact:

THIS IS THE MOON I WAS BORN UNDER

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Once again. I wish I’d written it!

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