Carol Novack
The Moon. The Eye. The Tree. 1. the moon.
this one is my treat so how will you have it:
a plain no nonsense kind of moon
or would you rather mix it with stars?
unless you should happen to be where i am
this moon’s on me.
but whose face has it got?
is it a judge
or is it a witness?
no. as all the judges have never lived alone
without dictionaries
and all the witnesses have never lived alone
without judges
it may be that the moon is really the eye
that is alone.
2. so let’s try. the eye.
how can you tell its shape may be camouflaged by time
or weather which is only the part of time closest to you
anyway how can you tell its size?
it may be waking from a dream of being moon
or it may be moon
waking from a dream of being eye
or perhaps one night dreamed it was sun
and didn’t come out.
it may be reflection of light that keeps the mirages going
but what company produces the power to keep the eye going?
is it the cocktail party or is it the mothers?
and if so what happens when they die?
and what of the eye of mothers?
and if all the mothers were poets?
would it prove that the eye is the moon?
no. as all the mothers have never lived alone
without dictionaries
and all poets have never lived alone
without mothers
it may be that the eye is really the tree
that is alone.
3. the tree.
if it is in the middle of a meadow
squatting like an African head
hunter how can you tell if it is alone?
if it is leaning toward a lake
what of the water is it related?
and if you are walking toward it
when the moon becomes your eye
or walking away from it can you see it
in the moon
but how can you
tell if it is the same tree you saw last night
when the witnesses swore
you were killing your mother inside
your house?
does the tree grow inside your living room
or in the bedroom
does it come from the seed of you father
and does it have a name?
could you call it oak or willow
with the full light shining
upon you?
the light your mouth your moon your eye your mother your own
your very own
tree?
no. as all the witnesses have never lived alone
without dictionaries
and all of us have never lived alone without witnesses
it may be that i am really that
which is alone.
4.
forget the moon. forget the eye.
forget the moon and the eye and the tree.
forget me. i used to try eating my feet
to keep from walking to you. but they grew
back. they kept on growing long shadows
into the black hole
under the tree into the plot they grew.
forget the touch. it only comes
when the moon is empty
and the eye is reeling from too many mirrors.
forget the reeling of the old movie classic,
the seed has spilled from one to another
into the garden into the plot it grows.
forget a little night music the trumpets are all going
over the Styx and nobody’s paying
for the ride.
forget the singers
the notes only come when swift money is walking
or someone is crying.
forget the women.
forget and forgive them
their honey
bones their arms
that stick to you
but only when you’ve forgotten
the plot.
forgive the women their trespasses
into your house and up the stairs
as far as to where you forgot the key
to the moon the eye and the tree.
with the witnesses and judges into their cases
they are going.
they have wronged you.
forget time who sets tables
like a methodical mother. forget her
who has laid us out for one another
but only when we have appetite
and memory and a new record to play
to keep the candles going.
forget the light.
for when the moon has fallen into the eye
it only opens occasionally. under the tree. in its small
black hole
it is glowing.
Carol Novack is the author of chapbook of poems, published in Australia, where she received a creative writer's grant from The Australian Arts Council. Her poetry and prose have appeared and are forthcoming in various publications, including The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets, Diagram, Noo Journal, Pindeldyboz, SmokeLong Quarterly,Wild Strawberries, Word Riot, Yankee Pot Roast and Newtopia. Carol is Editor and Publisher of Mad Hatters' Review, an online journal featuring "edgy and enlightened literature, art and music in the age of dementia."
Her website.
