Moon
Stone in the sky
tumbles through centuries
of clouds smoothing out
absence with its presence
Maple
Just past their peak, wind-lifted
and let go like a child flung off a swing
higher than they have ever been
Meanwhile on the ridge line the trees
link arms and begin the walk home
The idea was simple–let’s all gaze at the moon together, wherever we are, and share our words and images. Let’s have a full moon social event that the Ancients would understand and appreciate.
On October 8, 2014 WordPress and Twitter sparkled with poems, prose fragments, and photos from an assortment of creative folk using the hashtag #fullmoonsocial2014. It was a fun night to moon-gaze — and to refresh our searches on that tag to see what new poem or photo had popped up.
As much as I could, and with the permission of the authors, I have gathered this work into a humble anthology, available in PDF format. While designed like a traditional book, and without the website-inspired underlining, the websites or Twitter handles of each contributors are live links which will take you directly to their sites to find out more about the author and her/his work. The Contents pages are likewise linked to the book as well.
Please feel free to download it here, as a keepsake and a thank-you from me for joining in, to write, contribute, and to read. Any typos or other issues are mine, and please do not hesitate in letting me know if some adjustment needs to be made.
Likewise, if you’re an author or artist or photographer who contributed to the Full Moon Social but you don’t see your work here, let me know and I’ll add it in.
And if anyone’s interested in doing it again…
I’m putting together our first Full Moon Social anthology, based on the posts to the #fullmoonsocial2014 event on October 8th.
The anthology will be FREE and available as both a PDF and epub. Each page contains a poem and a link to the author’s website or Twitter page. Where a contributor is only known by their WordPress or Twitter handle, I used that in place of an author name. It will be a nice way to honor the hours we spent together writing under the moon.
To be on the safe side, I’m asking any contributors to the event to email me at jeffrey.schwaner@gmail.com to confirm that you give permission to being included in this free commemorative ebook. This will also help me if in my collection efforts I have missed some of the poems or photos posted by you.
By Friday I will be finalizing the anthology based on the permissions I’ve received. It has been fun to revisit these poems as I’ve been placing them in the (admittedly very basic) book design, and I look forward to sharing them once again in a more book-ish format.
O star you should have known
not even your memory will eclipse you
No distance will establish a shadow
between this heart and yours
The light that comes back to me
from something larger—is it
not my own joy which without you
I would never know?
Full moon, Belgorod, Russia, by Alex Markovich.
A contribution from my old Cornell pal and entrepreneur / poet / translator / tea ceremony guru / ranch-hand / dog trainer / everyman friend, Russ Mann:
Some authors who are not on WordPress but are on Twitter (or who do not write poetry on their chosen blogs) are contributing to the Full Moon Social on Twitter. So be sure to check the tag #fullmoonsocial2014 on Twitter throughout the evening. I’ve already seen several writers add to the party! Hey, Robert, you may run out of that sparkling wine sooner than you think…
You sleep beneath a quilt of moonlight.
As I cut off the lamp across the room
and walk into darkness the heavenly
body brightens. There is just enough
room for me, pushing aside a dog
or two, to press against you, fall in
to the rhythm of your breathing,
our dreams mountains on the moon
Loblolly pines peel away from the paling sky
looking back on their roots.
Over one’s shoulder the full moon
eclipsed on the western horizon’s
almost an after-thought. As indirect
light rises from the ground below us men come,
constructing the canopy tent for the next
funeral. Ground fog further east glows
red and headlights are no longer
necessary to see where you’re going.
Seriously nearly-full moon in my backyard not taking any nonsense–join the FullMoonSocial2014 on Wednesday.
Write to your loved ones. Write to your friends. Write to the moon. Write to a memory. Post a poem on WordPress or Twitter on Wednesday night, October 8th, anytime between the rising and setting of the moon, and tag it FullMoonSocial2014, and let’s spend the night looking at the same moon and the same freshly minted poems, and celebrate our passion for poetry, our loves and losses, and of course, the one constant thing and what poet Mary Reufle identified as the first lyric poem–the moon.
More info here.
Let’s harmonize with the Ancients, and each other.
On October 8th, the full moon rises. In the hours it’s alight, let’s do like the Ancients do, and send out a poem to those we’re thinking about but cannot be with, or to each other, or simply to the moon itself.
In a wrinkle on the tradition of Full Moon parties, let’s post our poems on WordPress and tag them “fullmoonsocial2014” and/or on Twitter and hashtag them #FullMoonSocial2014.
Let’s celebrate together this next full moon! Also, if you’re interested in having your poem included in a free epub anthology linking to your blog or website, leave a comment below with a simple “put me in the anthology.” If enough people are interested I will put it together and it will be available on this site and free.
What do you think? If you’re in, feel free to let your poet friends know, and reblog this post if desired. This is not about an edited anthology, this is not a competition. This is not about making money or marketing–this is just plain a full moon social celebration. a time we can share together, as poets and readers, the things and people we love, no matter where we are when the moon rises on October 8th.
Full moon rising and setting times can be found here, and I’ve included a few sample times below. http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/
FULL MOON RISING AND SETTING TIMES, OCT 8 2014
Staunton, VA — OCT 8 7:01 PM to 8:30 AM OCT 9
Kansas City, MO — OCT 8 7:07 PM to 8:38 AM OCT 9
Austin, TX — OCT 8 7:48 PM to 8:41 AM OCT 9
Los Angeles, CA — OCT 8 6:49 PM to 8:11 AM OCT 9
Seattle, WA — OCT 8 6:50 PM to 8:48 PM OCT 9
Istanbul, Turkey — OCT 8 6:37 PM to 8:03 AM OCT 9
Hong Kong — OCT 8 5:59 PM to 6:49 AM OCT 9
Manila, Philippines — OCT 8 5:35 PM to 6:16 AM OCT 9
Translations from the English 