}
March 16, 2024

Implicit Association Moon

Yes, first moon of spring,

We are in a strange moment

& could use some illumination.

‍

Here, early in the day,

Already street ceremonies underway

Metal rattles & petrol drums.

‍

I read poetry in a dark room

That speaks in the affirmative

While crows rasp outside.

‍

Blue lupines, poppies, & gazania

My favorite warm honey-scented alyssum

Growing by the highway bike path

Seeds informing soil with soul.

‍

I call in the yes.

‍

I invoke please with all my heart.

‍

Writing toward the open

Tender faces of beings, speaking

Whatever words will soothe them.

‍

Yes, this is difficult passage,

Let us endeavor to sow beauty

In our brief earthly commute.

‍

With gentle ears, hearing becomes a river.

With soft eyes, vision clears.

With deliberate hands, grit & resilience.

With devotion, moonlight shimmers

And the ordinary is adorned.

‍

-for Nikole Hannah-Jones

POEM BY
Qayyum Johnson
ARTWORK BY SUIKO MCCALL

Blue Moon, 2018. Ink on paper, 30x30".

Original in a private collection.

Prints available at suiko.art.

Read more Moonpoems