It looks almost like the mast of a sailboat.
The wires look a little like standing rigging
keeping the mast upright as it drives the boat.
It’s not a mast. It’s a utility pole
holding up an electric line or phone line
under a tree and clouds and sky and young Moon.
The Sun below the horizon still colors
the sky as if it were water changing depth.
This looks far away. Farther than Hollywood,
farther than France. It looks like a pretend place
so far away only imagination
can make it real like movie special effects
or modern hyper-realist painting techniques.
It looks like a boat and it looks far away.
It’s the view from a corner three blocks away.
I’ve been there. So far away. But I came back.
“Is this a new hobby?” she asked. “Moon pictures?”
Wondering if it was the truth, I said, “No.”
She looked at me. She made one of those faces.
I said, “No, really. I saw the tree’s outline
against the sky and I knew I could expose
for the Moon, turn the tree to a silhouette,
and then the irregular tree silhouette
would look like a coastline against an ocean
and the blue sky would look like bays and inlets,
but with the Moon there next to the tree, the sky
would look like the regular sky. Then the post
would look like a post or the mast of a boat.
I thought I could show an impossible scene
that was real, just the view from three blocks away.
That’s what I was thinking when I photographed
the young Moon. It wasn’t just about the Moon.”
She looked at me and made a face but this face
was a different face than the first face she made.
“That post,” she said, “does look like a sailboat mast.
Tomorrow, will you take me to that corner?”
I nodded. “Of course. It’s just three blocks away.”
With a new face, she said, “I’ve always wanted
to go someplace impossible. You promise?”
I liked all her faces. I said, “I promise.”
The wires look a little like standing rigging
keeping the mast upright as it drives the boat.
It’s not a mast. It’s a utility pole
holding up an electric line or phone line
under a tree and clouds and sky and young Moon.
The Sun below the horizon still colors
the sky as if it were water changing depth.
This looks far away. Farther than Hollywood,
farther than France. It looks like a pretend place
so far away only imagination
can make it real like movie special effects
or modern hyper-realist painting techniques.
It looks like a boat and it looks far away.
It’s the view from a corner three blocks away.
I’ve been there. So far away. But I came back.
“Is this a new hobby?” she asked. “Moon pictures?”
Wondering if it was the truth, I said, “No.”
She looked at me. She made one of those faces.
I said, “No, really. I saw the tree’s outline
against the sky and I knew I could expose
for the Moon, turn the tree to a silhouette,
and then the irregular tree silhouette
would look like a coastline against an ocean
and the blue sky would look like bays and inlets,
but with the Moon there next to the tree, the sky
would look like the regular sky. Then the post
would look like a post or the mast of a boat.
I thought I could show an impossible scene
that was real, just the view from three blocks away.
That’s what I was thinking when I photographed
the young Moon. It wasn’t just about the Moon.”
She looked at me and made a face but this face
was a different face than the first face she made.
“That post,” she said, “does look like a sailboat mast.
Tomorrow, will you take me to that corner?”
I nodded. “Of course. It’s just three blocks away.”
With a new face, she said, “I’ve always wanted
to go someplace impossible. You promise?”
I liked all her faces. I said, “I promise.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I took that photo Sunday evening. The young Moon
was just a few hours short of being four days old. It was
about 16% illuminated. This is I think the third month
in a row I’ve taken a photo of the young Moon, but
this month I was thinking about the tree first,
I really was, I promise.
“People Born Illuminated”
The Moon And Venus Beyond The Fox Point
Wild Randomness
We’re Going To Need A Bigger Boat
The Margins Of Water In The Wild
Coastal Creatures
Puddle Monsters: Creatures Of The Edge
Distance From Paris To Berlin
This Bright Old World Of Ours As A Rune
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