CINDY VEACH, "YOU WOULD BE FORGIVEN IN THINKING THAT YOU CAN SEE THE WHOLE OF THE MOON" (Issue 17)

YOU WOULD BE FORGIVEN IN THINKING THAT YOU CAN SEE THE WHOLE OF THE MOON 

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Because only 59% of the moon’s surface is visible from Earth 

there is still reason to believe in cheese. Indulge me please.

We may see only the nearside, but that nine percent beyond one-half 

is hard fought territory existing only in the libration zones 

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where our lunar buddy gently wobbles in Earth’s sky 

playing at peek-a-boo with the naked eye. And while nothing 

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has gone uncharted, to observe this bonus acreage, 

is to see around corners a little way around the east and west 

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limb and over the north and south and to be able to distinguish 

craters foreshortened and edge-on. Yet still, we’re missing 

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forty-one percent. Math may be my nemesis, but I get this. 

We don’t know what we’re missing. More than knick-knacks 

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and photos deep-sixed in the attic. What about every crater 

never noticed, never explored? So many grainy possibilities 

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forgone. Close your eyes and look hard at the moon tonight. 

I was only joking about the cheese. What I meant to say 

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was there is still reason to believe that at any given moment 

for whatever reason there is more than meets the eye. 

****

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Title and quotes (in italics) from: https://www.spaceanswers.com/astronomy/how-much-of-the-moons-surface-can-we-see-from-earth/

ABOUT THE POET

Cindy Veach is the author of Gloved Against Blood (CavanKerry Press, Nov. 2017). Her poetry has appeared inAGNI, Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Journal, and elsewhere. She manages fundraising programs for non-profit organizations and lives in Manchester by the Sea, MA.

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