in the january night sky
bulbous moist orb
rolling damp
in a cold chromium fog
wet slivers of cloud
smear themselves
across its face
irregular
like translucent sacks
of moonbeams
breathing
breathing
glassine billows
oozing
soaked with midnight
stars float and spark
glinting
dripping
shivering
flash points
in a wolfen eye
frozen splintered crystal tips
diamond chips
pinprick rips
in blackened space
they wink and wane
and sputter
shattered bits of silvered light
snapping here then not
behind the ghostly white vapor
that slithers
through the firmament
the world devoid of color
aglow in sterling grey
a negative of day
thick and chilled
filled with the sound
of stalking after-dark things
lupine spirits afoot
prowling
growling
the hoarse breath of the beast
festers a howl
harrowing deeply this dank night
nocturne
the sorrowing hour
to lay bare your soul
in pale introspection
in grief of secrets
~ ~ ~
rob kistner © 2007
(revised © 2019)
photos of the Super Blood Wolf Moon of January 20, 2019
This past Sunday, January 20th, at 9:12 PM PST, we here in the Pacific Northwest witnessed a rare spectacle in our clear night sky – it was the totality of a full lunar eclipse of a Super Moon. Super indicates closest proximity to earth. This first full moon of the year is always known reverently, as the Wolf Moon, which is appropriate given the deep, ancient ties between wolves and January’s full moon.
For instance, the Gaelic word for January, Faoilleach, comes from the term for wolves, faol-chù. The Saxon word for January is Wulf-monath, or Wolf Month. Meanwhile, the festival of the Japanese wolf god, Ooguchi Magami, is held in January. The Seneca tribe links the wolf so strongly to the moon, they believe that a wolf gave birth to the moon by singing it into January’s sky. The Sioux tribe calls January 20th’s Wolf Moon the Moon When Wolves Run Together.
This particular wolf moon of January of 2019, will be a “Super Blood Wolf Moon”, and will be fully visible to all of America after sunset on January 20. An exceptionally big, bright, red moon will be dazzling in the sky. It’s a total lunar eclipse, meaning the sun and moon will be perfectly aligned on opposite sides of the Earth. The moon will be completely covered by the Earth’s shadow and take on a reddish “blood moon” tint. Red due to dispersion of sunlight through earth atmosphere.
The eclipse will occur with the moon at it’s closest to the Earth, making the moon appear brighter and bigger than usual, known as a supermoon. This coming “super blood wolf moon” is a very rare celestial event! OK, so this might be a little myth, a little mystery, and a bit’a “my gosh!”… but it’s fun, and will be a fascinating event to witness. To pay homage to January 2019’s “Super Blood Wolf Moon” I have written this poem to honor the proud lone wolf.
